Search for MH370 deepens KUALA LUMPUR, MAR 17 (AGENCIES): MORE THAN 20 COUNTRIES INVOLVED; TO COVER 2 MILLION SQUARE MILES Search for missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 has been extended to more than 20 countries and 2 million square miles. Malaysia’s Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said that Australia was among more than 20 countries considered to be possible locations for MH370, which has been missing since March 8. It was also revealed that Britain and France are now among the countries providing help, which will take responsibility for the ‘southern vector’. Other countries in the search include Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, China, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, and France. Malaysian authorities have said that the plane could be anywhere. China has showed its growing impatience with Malaysia over the hunt for missing jet MH370 and warned it must ‘immediately’ expand the search. As the list of countries involved in the hunt rose to 26, China’s Foreign Ministry said Malaysia needs to clarify the scope of the operation which now covers an area the size of Africa. “Officials are also asking countries to provide further assistance in the search for the aircraft including satellite data and analysis, ground search capabilities, radar data and maritime and air assets,” he said. Meanwhile, researchers from Slade have pinpointed 634 runways where the place could have landed in the area being searched. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbottdetection’: Malaysian authorities are probing new information that the missing plane with 239 people on board dropped to an altitude of 5,000 feet or possibly lower to evade radar detection after it turned back midair. Investigators are poring over the Boeing 777 flight MH370 profile to determine if it had flown low and used “terrain masking” during most of the eight hours it was missing from the radar coverage of possibly at least three countries, the New Straits Times reported today. “The person who had control over the aircraft has a solid knowledge of avionics and navigation, and left a clean track. It passed low over Kelantan, that was true,” the paper quoted officials as saying. This technique is called terrain masking and is used by military pilots to fly to their targets stealthily, using the topography to mask their approach from prying microwaves. Investigators are also probing a flight engineer who was among the passengers on the missing plane. Probe digs into past of all on board: Investigators haven’t ruled out hijacking, sabotage, pilot suicide or mass murder, and they are checking the backgrounds of all 227 passengers and 12 crew members, as well as the ground crew, to see if links to terrorists, personal problems or psychological issues could be factors. The Wall Street Journal has released a report saying “some senior U.S. officials believe that the plane may have been taken as part of a ‘dry run’ for a future terrorist attack, testing the ability to take a plane and hide it from radar and satellites.”
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 00:38:55 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015