Flight MH370: Police focus on pilots as search for airliner goes on - live updates
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| Relatives of the passengers onboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 wait for the latest information at Lido Hotel on Sunday. Photograph: Lintao Zhang/Getty Images |
Hishammuddin seems to be flagging up on Twitter some of the stuff we think we might be getting details on at the press conference later.
Malaysian defence minister Hishammuddin Hussein has tweeted that he is talking to all countries involved in the revised search.
Malaysian officials are currently discussing with all partners how best to deploy assets along the two corridors#MH370 -@HishammuddinH2O— H2O Comms (@H2OComms) March 16, 2014
And that it continues to be a multinational effort.
The search and rescue operation continues to be a multi-national effort, led by Malaysia. #MH370 -@HishammuddinH2O— H2O Comms (@H2OComms) March 16, 2014
He lists the countries now involved as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, China, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia & France. Among others.
Malaysians have staged a re-enactment of missing flight
Malaysian officials piloted an identical Boeing-777 in recent days to “re-enact” MH370’s movements, according to this AFP report in the New Straits Times.
It says the re-enactment was aimed at determining whether the radar and satellite data that it generated matches up with data on MH370’s flight.
It says the re-enactment was aimed at determining whether the radar and satellite data that it generated matches up with data on MH370’s flight.
An official told AFP on condition of anonymity:
The idea of the flight was to find out the possible direction the missing plane could have gone.The plane was flown exactly how the missing plane flew based on military radar data. It did a turn-around, flew across the Malaysian peninsula and up north.That is why we can conclusively say which two possible directions the plane flew and we have now refocused our search and rescue operations to these two new areas.
The extedned search area was likely to pose serious problems.
It is like going to the moon. The operation is going to be more challenging.
The whole world seems gripped by the evolving drama in Asia. Here is a photograph of eight-year-old Syira Nazia Hutabarat, from Medan in Sumatra, Indonesia, working on a picture praying for the flight’s safe return – one of many posted on news wires and social media.
Australia is another country that is likely to be drawn further into the search effort thanks to Razak’s alternative theory that the plane was flown in a south-easterly direction towards the southern Indian ocean.
There was no indication of immediate talks or briefings but prime minister Tony Abbott said today:
Well I spoke to [Malaysian] prime minister Najib Razak last Sunday and I offered him two Orion search aircraft and they’ve been hard at work over the last week in various areas and they’ll be appropriately re-tasked given the changing search patterns.We haven’t at this stage, to my understanding, been asked for additional resources, but we want to be a good friend to Malaysia. We want to be a good contributor to our neighbourhood. We want to be a good neighbour to all of the regional friends and partners we have and so if the Malaysians want additional help, we certainly stand ready to supply it.
India 'pauses' search effort
India said earlier today that it was pausing its search effort at the request of the Malaysian authorities and an anonymous official said that Indian and malaysian authorities would meet on Sunday to work out how the search effort would proceed from here.
Colonel Harmit Singh, spokesman for India’s tri-services command, said coast guard ships have reverted to routine surveillance in the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal, Associated Press reported.
The Indian navy and air force’s coordinated search for the last three days has so far covered more than 250,000 square kilometers (100,579 square miles) in the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal without any sighting of the Boeing 777 and 239 people aboard.
In his press conference on Saturday, Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak said that one theory about the whereabouts of the plane is that it was flown from the Malay peninsula towards India in north-westerly air corridor, possibly as far as Kazakhstan.
In his press conference on Saturday, Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak said that one theory about the whereabouts of the plane is that it was flown from the Malay peninsula towards India in north-westerly air corridor, possibly as far as Kazakhstan.
Among the many questions this startling revelation raised was how the plane would have been able to evade India’s air defence systems and radars.
However, retired Indian air force officer Vinod Patney told AP it was unlikely but not impossible for an aircraft to intrude a country’s airspace undetected.
5.30pm press conference
Kate Hodal, our correspondent in south-east Asia, says that Malaysia’s chief of police, Khalid Abu Bakar, is expected to speak at today’s press conference at 5.30pm Kuala Lumpur time – that’s 9.30am GMT. And that’s 8.30pm AEST.
It is believed he will be giving an update on the searches of the two pilots homes.
Updated
Anwar’s party has reacted swiftly to deny the allegations.
PKR communications director Fahmi Fadzil said the Daily Mail report was “wild allegations” and the paper “is a sensationalist tabloid known for cooking up stories.”
“We do not want this to be used by unscrupulous parties as an avenue to attack PKR or Pakatan Rakyat component parties,” he told The Star Online.
Fahmi hoped that the federal government would not use the opportunity to “label” Pakatan Rakyat leaders.
Asked if Zaharie was often seen at functions organised by PKR or Pakatan Rakyat, he said he does not know Zaharie personally.
“I was in court during the two days but I can’t remember seeing him. After all, it was a public hearing and anyone could attend.”
As well as the pilots, police are once more examining the backgrounds of the passengers on MH370 as they search for clues as who might have sabotaged the airliner.
An interesting info-graphic from the Straits Times in Singapore shows pictures of some of the passengers.
Missing #MalaysiaAirlines plane: Among those on flight#MH370 http://t.co/CgkUEOfVyi pic.twitter.com/Issw2c2Lmz— The Straits Times (@STcom) March 16, 2014
A report in the Mail on Sunday thinks the answer might be that the captain was some kind of “political fanatic”.
It claims that he was an “obsessive” supporter of Malaysia’s opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, whose trial for sodomy had upset the pilot. Ibrahim’s supporters believe the charges are trumped up and an attempt to keep him out of power.
The mystery over the role of the pilots seems to be the key focus for the Malaysian police today.
After the home of 53-year-old captain, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, was searched on Saturday, a senior police officer told Reuters that they have raided the home of 27-year-old co-pilot first officer Fariq Abdul Hamid.
“We are not ruling out any sort of motivation at the moment,” the police official said.
So what are they looking for?
Good afternoon/morning
Hello and welcome to the live blog as the search for missing Malaysia Airlines jet goes into the ninth day.
The main developments so far today are:
- The police in Malaysia are focused on the pilots, whose homes have been searched.
- There will be a press conference in Kuala Lumpur at 5.30pm local time, or 9.30am GMT
- India says it has ‘paused’ its search efforts pending a rethink by the Malaysians.
- Malaysia’s opposition party has dismissed claims in the Mail on Sunday that Captain Zaharie is a “political fanatic”
More on all these lines coming up.
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