By Chan Kok Leong
Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia’s search for the missing Boeing 777-200ER has been expanded from 14 countries to 25, covering an area stretching from the south of the Indian Ocean to Central Asia.
And to aid in the search for the 239-passenger Malaysian Airlines (MAS) flight MH370, Malaysia has requested “sensitive information,” including satellite data and analysis, ground-search capabilities and radar data.
“The Prime Minister has already spoken with the heads of Bangladesh, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and India while the foreign ministry has already briefed 22 foreign embassies,” Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told reporters Sunday.
Hishammuddin, who is also the defense minister, said that Malaysia has also asked the countries for playback data for primary and secondary radars and additional maritime and aerial assets to aid in the search.
“These countries include Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, China, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia and France,” he added.
Today’s requests follow Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s televised statement yesterday that there were “deliberate” actions causing the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines (MAS) flight MH370.
The revelations were consistent with media reports that an unidentified aircraft had followed a route between navigational waypoints - aviation corridors N571 and P628 - after it was last plotted on Malaysia’s military radar. N571 - or waypoint Vampi - is used by commercial airplanes traveling to the Middle East while P628 - waypoint Igrex - is used to fly to Europe.
In connection with this, Inspector General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar confirmed Sunday that police raided the homes of pilot Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah and his co-pilot, 27-year-old Fariq, Abdul Hamid yesterday.
Khalid said that during the raids, Zaharie’s flight simulator has been dismantled and reconstructed in the police headquarters for closer examination.
In earlier reports Zaharie was said to have built his own flight simulators and had even posted a video on YouTube.com, while Fariq was reported to have breached cockpit safety rules by inviting two South African women into the cockpit during a flight from Phuket to Kuala Lumpur in 2011.
But according to Hishammuddin Sunday, checks with MAS had revealed that the pilot and co-pilot had not requested to pilot flight MH370 together
Britain’s Daily Mail published Sunday a front-page story suggesting that Zaharie had hijacked the plane as a form of political protest.
“Zaharie was an ‘obsessive’ supporter of Malaysia’s opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim. And hours before the doomed flight left Kuala Lumpur it is understood the 53-year-old had attended a controversial trial which Anwar was jailed for five years,” said the tabloid.
The decision was said to have left Zaharie “profoundly upset” the paper added.
Zaharie’s Facebook page also showed that he was an aviation enthusiast who flew remote-controlled aircraft. The father and grandfather, who joined Malaysian Airlines in 1981, has more than 18,000 hours of flight experience.
Flight MH370 went missing after losing radio contact with Malaysian and Vietnamese air traffic control after leaving Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 8.
The Beijing-bound flight carried 239 passengers, including 12-flight crew, from 14 different countries.
englishnews@aa.com.tr
