Malaysia widens search area for MAS airliner

[brooklynite]

Source: New Straits Times (Kuala Lumper)

SEPANG: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said today the search for a missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) aircraft would be widened as nothing was found in the area where contact with the plane was lost.

"We have not found any wreckage," he told a news conference after MAS Flight MH370 went missing over the South China Sea at 2.40 am when flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.

Najib said it was decided to widen the area of the search following a discussion among him, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein and heads of agencies involved in the search-and-rescue operation.




Read more: http://www.nst.com.my/latest/font-color-red-missing-mh370-font-malaysia-widens-search-area-for-mas-airliner-1.503076?cache=03%2F7.230513%3Fkey%3DMalaysia%2F7.325431%2F7.478238%2F7.478238%2F7.478238%2F7.502513%2F7.502513%2F7.502513%2F7.502513

[smokey775]

1. Sending good vibes for a positive outcome,

but, more and more it's looking like a tragedy.

[itsrobert]

2. Should be dark/night time over there now

doesn't look good.

[smokey775]

3. Vietnam is now saying that they've spotted 2 slicks

consistent with jet fuel in the area where radio contact was lost.
You're right, not looking good at all.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/malaysia-airlines-plane-vanishes-over-south-china-sea/2014/03/08/97b1eb4a-a69f-11e3-bf3d-63f593e487a9_story.html

BEIJING — Vietnamese air force planes have spotted two large oil slicks that officials believe are from a Malaysia Airlines flight that suddenly vanished from air traffic control screens and was presumed to have crashed early Saturday, the Associated Press reports.

Search and rescue vessels and planes from Southeast Asia have been scouring the waters of the South China Sea in search of the Boeing 777 carrying 239 people, including three Americans.

A Vietnamese government statement says the slicks were spotted off the southern tip of the country and were consistent with the kinds that would be left by fuel from a crashed jet, according to AP.

[greymattermom]

4. stolen passports?

At least 3 people with stolen passports were on board. How common is that?
http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/08/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-plane-missing/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

[mackerel]

6. i read mention of two stolen passport s

[Baclava]

5. Conspiracy theories spiral around MH370’s disappearance

Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Abdul Aziz Kaprawi was asked about the possibility of terrorism as the cause for MH370's disappearance.

A foreign reporter asked Aziz whether MH370 had been lost due to foul play. "We cannot reveal too many details about our security," Aziz said. "We have reviewed the closed-circuit television video footage pertaining to passengers and their baggages. So far, we are satisfied with everything," he said.

Malaysia Airlines said that the plane took off at 12.41am Malaysia time, and that the plane disappeared from air traffic control radar in Subang, a suburb of Kuala Lumpur, at 2.40am.

That timeline seemed to suggest that the plane stayed in the air for two hours – long enough to fly not only across the Gulf of Thailand but also far north across Vietnam. But Lindahl of Flightradar 24 said that the last radar contact had been at 1.19am, less than 40 minutes after the flight began.

A Malaysia Airlines spokesman said on Saturday evening that the last conversation between the flight crew and air traffic control in Malaysia had been around 1.30am, but he reiterated that the plane had not disappeared from air traffic control systems in Subang until 2.40am.

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/conspiracy-theories-spiral-around-mh370s-disappearance

--------------------

Search widens as international effort helps to find missing plane

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak told a press conference this evening that the search and rescue operations would continue until the aircraft is found.

Najib said the Vietnamese navy had also contacted their Malaysian counterparts and confirmed that MH370 did not crash into the sea near the Tho Chu island.

"It is too early to draw any type of conclusion, there are several theories but it will remain as such until there is concrete evidence," he said at the Sama-Sama Hotel in Sepang.

Najib said the initial search had been focused on the area where MH370's signal was last detected before it disappeared off the radar.

He said Malaysia had not used satellite imaging as the aircraft cannot be found if it is below the water.

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/search-widens-as-international-effort-helps-to-find-missing-plane

[mn9driver]

7. 2 oil slicks

were reported by search aircraft. If they turn out to be related to the missing airliner it suggests a catastrophic in flight breakup of the plane, at a fairly high altitude. The main fuel tanks would have had to impact with enough separation to keep the slicks separate.

Hoping this was not a bomb, but that would be consistent with this scenario. The fact that no terror group has yet claimed credit for it is, I guess, a "good" sign in a terrible and tragic situation.

RIP

[Baclava]

8. OFFICIAL news release Malaysia Airlines MH370 Flight Incident - whereabouts unknown

Sepang, 9 March 2014: Malaysia Airlines humbly asks all Malaysians and people around the world to pray for flight MH370.

It has been more than 24 hours since we last heard from MH370 at 1.30 am. The search and rescue team is yet to determine the whereabouts of the Boeing 777-200 aircraft.

An international search and rescue mission from Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam was mobilized this morning. At this stage, they have failed to find evidence of any wreckage. The sea mission will continue overnight while the air mission will recommence at daylight.

We are dispatching all information as and when we receive it. The situation in Beijing is also being monitored closely. As many families of passengers are in China, we have deployed our “Go Team” to Beijing with a team of caregivers and volunteers to assist the family members of the passengers.

http://www.malaysiaairlines.com/my/en/site/dark-site.html