Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak on Wednesday appealed for patience in the search for a missing Malaysia Airlines jet amid confusion over the aircraft’s last known location that prompted Vietnam to scale down its effort.
Najib urged Malaysians to support the government and pray for “some information that can finally lead us to the discovery of the aircraft soon.” “We must face this great challenge from Allah calmly,” he said in a television interview. “The government is doing everything to increase assets, aircraft and ships with sophisticated equipment. I am certain we will eventually find it.” “The question is when. Under the present situation, we must have patience and pray,” he added.
Vietnam said it was scaling down its search activities after the head of Malaysia’s air force denied media reports that military radar last detected the plane near Pulau Perak, an island in the Malacca Strait between the Malay Peninsula and the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
The Malay-language
“It would not be appropriate for the RMAF (Royal Malaysian Air Force) to issue any official conclusions as to the aircraft’s flight path until a high amount of certainty and verification is achieved,” his statement said.
Amid the confusion on the direction of the hunt, Vietnam said it would wait for further notice from Malaysia on where to focus the search.
“Vietnam will reduce most of its searching activities for the missing Malaysian plane to wait for official information from the Malaysian Government,” Deputy Transport Minister Pham Quy Tieu told dpa.
He said officials have asked fishing boats to keep monitoring the area where flight MH370 last made contact. “If asked, Vietnam will send search teams to support Malaysia,” he said.
Nearly 100 ships and aircraft from at least 10 countries were searching a widened area for the Boeing 777-200, which dropped off radar about an hour after it took off from Kuala Lumpur airport on Saturday, on its way to Beijing.
Malaysia Airlines expressed shock over reports Tuesday that the missing flight’s co-pilot, Fariq Abdul Hamid, had invited two South African women to the cockpit on a flight in 2011.
The women alleged that Fariq had smoked in the cockpit during the flight.
“We have not been able to confirm the validity of the pictures and videos of the alleged incident,” the flag carrier said in a statement. “We are in the midst of a crisis, and we do not want our attention to be diverted.” Police said their investigation into the plane’s disappearance would look into hijacking, sabotage as well as the psychological and personal circumstances of the crew and passengers that could have resulted in a criminal act.
Officials added that two Iranian passengers who used stolen passports to board the flight did not seem to have links with terrorist groups, playing down fears that an attack was behind the plane’s disappearance.
The Seattle-based plane maker said it has dispatched a team to help investigate the disappearance, “Boeing has joined the US National Transportation Safety Board team as a technical advisor. The team is positioned in the region to offer assistance.”