MALAYSIAN Airlines flight en route to China is missing.

[PrivateEyes]

Opposition leader accuses Malaysian government of MH370 cover-up

Anwar Ibrahim tells British newspaper Malaysian government is 'concealing information' on fate of Flight MH370 missing since March 8

PUBLISHED : Friday, 04 April, 2014, 10:28am
UPDATED : Friday, 04 April, 2014, 1:19pm

Agence France-Presse in London, Associated Press in Perth

Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim. Photo: Reuters

Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim on Friday accused the government of hiding information on missing flight MH370, telling Britain’s Daily Telegraph that the country’s radar system would have detected any change of course.

His comments came just a day after Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak vowed increased efforts to find the plane."We want to find answers. We want to provide comfort to the families and we will not rest until answers are indeed found," Najib said, as he thanked those involved in the search.

On Friday, the Australian head of the agency co-ordinating the searching for the missing jet said two ships using US Navy equipment would begin an underwater hunt for the jet’s black boxes.

Angus Houston, said a towed pinger locator had been put on the Australian ship the Ocean Shield and it would converge with the British HMS Echo in an effort to locate the black boxes before their batteries were exhausted.

Anwar, who recently had his acquittal on sodomy charges overturned in what he claims is a political smear, said he was “baffled” why the sophisticated Marconi radar system that he authorised as finance minister in 1994 had failed to immediately detect the plane’s deviation.

The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 went missing in the early hours of March 8 during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.

He described it as “not only unacceptable but not possible, not feasible” that it could travel across “at least four” Malaysian provinces undetected, adding: “I believe the government knows more than us”.

“We don’t have the sophistication of the United States or Britain but still we have the capacity to protect our borders,” he stressed.

The radar system, based near the South China Sea, covers mainland Malaysia.

Anwar defended the aircraft’s pilot, 53-year-old Zaharie Ahmad Shah, who is also a personal friend and a member of his political party.

“If you say or suggest that the pilot may have been involved, what about the concealing [of information]?” he told the Telegraph.

“He could not have concealed the radar readings. He could not have instructed the air force to remain completely silent.”

The search for missing Malaysia Arlines Flight MH370 is continuing. Photo: EPA

Despite extensive scouring of the remote southern Indian Ocean, no debris that would indicate a crash site has been found, with time running out to locate the plane’s "black box", which only emits a signal for around 30 days.

Najib admitted the exhaustive hunt for the Boeing 777 that vanished on March 8 was a "gargantuan task", but said he was confident that "in due time we will provide a closure to this event, on this tragedy".

Anwar was sentenced to five years in jail just hours before MH370 took off after a Court of Appeals panel sided with a government challenge to his 2012 acquittal on charges he sodomised a male former aide. He is currently on bail.

Once a rising star in Malaysia’s long-ruling party until his spectacular ouster in the late 1990s, Anwar has alleged a long-running campaign by the ruling regime to destroy his political career with false charges.

He leads a pro-democracy coalition of parties that shocked the government by claiming over half of the popular vote last year’s general election, though it was not enough to secure victory.

 

[PrivateEyes]

'Go home', mental health experts urge families of missing Chinese passngers on flight MH370

PUBLISHED : Friday, 04 April, 2014, 11:49pm
UPDATED : Saturday, 05 April, 2014, 1:32am

Teddy Ng in Kuala Lumpur [email protected]

Relatives of Chinese passengers pray in Beijing yesterday. Photo: AP

Relatives of Chinese passengers aboard the missing Malaysia Airlines flight should return home to start the recovery process, mental health experts say.

Such a prolonged period disconnected from friends and family was having an adverse effect on their well-being and keeping them locked in the early stages of the grieving process, the experts said.

Families of many of the 239 people on board the flight were taken to hotels in Beijing and Kuala Lumpur when news broke on March 8 that it had vanished.

As the days passed and leads dried up, many - particularly some of the Chinese - became frustrated and vented their anger towards officials and journalists.

Public sympathy has started to wane, leading the Chinese government to distance itself from their comments and accusations.

Paul Yin, a psychologist volunteering at the Lido Hotel in Beijing, said grouping families together had helped in co-ordinating the operation but it was time for them to go home, where he hoped the authorities would ensure they were properly cared for.

Sean Lee, a counsellor who has provided help for some 10 Malaysian families in Kuala Lumpur, said their response had been more muted.

When Prime Minister Najib Razak announced the flight had "ended" over the Indian Ocean, he said, the Malaysian reaction had "not been as strong as expected".

That was a sign they had overcome the disbelief characteristic of the initial stages of trauma, he added, and pointed to the Malaysians' strong religious beliefs as a possible reason.

"Religion helps people to face a situation where they feel powerless to change anything. They will leave everything to God," he said.

"[For the Chinese], demanding the truth is something they believe they can do for their family members."

Chong Keat Aun, a producer at a Kuala Lumpur radio station, said his Malaysian friend had been on the plane, "but his daughter prefers to stay at home with her mother".

As the focus of the investigation shifts away from the two capital cities, it is now decision time for many relatives.

Some fear returning home will leave them disconnected from the search. "We have work to do and family to take care of back home. And I am worried about my father too," said Liu Jiani, whose grandfather and grandmother were on the plane.

"Emotions are tense here [at the Lido Hotel]. People look very calm, but they become very emotional all of a sudden. But after I go back home, who is going to help me and what can I do if I want to get in touch with someone to know about the latest search efforts?"

 

[steffychun]

Opposition leader accuses Malaysian government of MH370 cover-up

Anwar Ibrahim tells British newspaper Malaysian government is 'concealing information' on fate of Flight MH370 missing since March 8

PUBLISHED : Friday, 04 April, 2014, 10:28am
UPDATED : Friday, 04 April, 2014, 1:19pm

Agence France-Presse in London, Associated Press in Perth

Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim. Photo: Reuters

Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim on Friday accused the government of hiding information on missing flight MH370, telling Britain’s Daily Telegraph that the country’s radar system would have detected any change of course.

His comments came just a day after Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak vowed increased efforts to find the plane."We want to find answers. We want to provide comfort to the families and we will not rest until answers are indeed found," Najib said, as he thanked those involved in the search.

On Friday, the Australian head of the agency co-ordinating the searching for the missing jet said two ships using US Navy equipment would begin an underwater hunt for the jet’s black boxes.

Angus Houston, said a towed pinger locator had been put on the Australian ship the Ocean Shield and it would converge with the British HMS Echo in an effort to locate the black boxes before their batteries were exhausted.

Anwar, who recently had his acquittal on sodomy charges overturned in what he claims is a political smear, said he was “baffled” why the sophisticated Marconi radar system that he authorised as finance minister in 1994 had failed to immediately detect the plane’s deviation.

The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 went missing in the early hours of March 8 during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.

He described it as “not only unacceptable but not possible, not feasible” that it could travel across “at least four” Malaysian provinces undetected, adding: “I believe the government knows more than us”.

“We don’t have the sophistication of the United States or Britain but still we have the capacity to protect our borders,” he stressed.

The radar system, based near the South China Sea, covers mainland Malaysia.

Anwar defended the aircraft’s pilot, 53-year-old Zaharie Ahmad Shah, who is also a personal friend and a member of his political party.

“If you say or suggest that the pilot may have been involved, what about the concealing [of information]?” he told the Telegraph.

“He could not have concealed the radar readings. He could not have instructed the air force to remain completely silent.”

The search for missing Malaysia Arlines Flight MH370 is continuing. Photo: EPA

Despite extensive scouring of the remote southern Indian Ocean, no debris that would indicate a crash site has been found, with time running out to locate the plane’s "black box", which only emits a signal for around 30 days.

Najib admitted the exhaustive hunt for the Boeing 777 that vanished on March 8 was a "gargantuan task", but said he was confident that "in due time we will provide a closure to this event, on this tragedy".

Anwar was sentenced to five years in jail just hours before MH370 took off after a Court of Appeals panel sided with a government challenge to his 2012 acquittal on charges he sodomised a male former aide. He is currently on bail.

Once a rising star in Malaysia’s long-ruling party until his spectacular ouster in the late 1990s, Anwar has alleged a long-running campaign by the ruling regime to destroy his political career with false charges.

He leads a pro-democracy coalition of parties that shocked the government by claiming over half of the popular vote last year’s general election, though it was not enough to secure victory.

If Anwar is in Charge, more planes would crash.

 

[THE_CHANSTER]

I hope this is not yet another false lead...time is fast running out.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-26902127

 

[virus]

this is like the taiwanese show nite market... everyweek chut pattern more then bedminton. after all these cry wolf. the fanfare has rubbed off for sure.

 

[steffychun]

I hope this is not yet another false lead...time is fast running out.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-26902127

It could be HMS Tireless sonar.

 

[THE_CHANSTER]

It could be HMS Tireless sonar.

No, the Chinese ship HAI XUN 01 is claiming that it detected the pulse signal however there is no confirmation that is came from MH370.

 

[po2wq]

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/p5nw6X2-Jfs?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>... ... ...

 

[PrivateEyes]

No, the Chinese ship HAI XUN 01 is claiming that it detected the pulse signal however there is no confirmation that is came from MH370.

That's right. sochi2014 must have ejaculated all over his keyboard over this news.

Chinese ship detects suspected beacon from missing MH370 flight

A pulse signal suspected to be from the black box recorders on board Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has been detected by the crew of the Chinese patrol ship Haixun 01, China's state media reported on Saturday evening.

PUBLISHED : Saturday, 05 April, 2014, 3:31pm
UPDATED : Saturday, 05 April, 2014, 11:14pm

Agencies and staff reporters

The captain and a crew member of Chinese rescue vessel the Haixun 01, which has detected a signal suspected to be from the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. Photo: Xinhua

A Chinese patrol ship taking part in the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has received pulse signals suspected to be from the flight recorders of the plane, four weeks to the day after the airliner vanished.

Shanghai-based Xinmin Evening News on Saturday evening reported that the crew of the Chinese patrol ship Haixun 01 had "basically confirmed" that a signal that it picked up in the southern Indian Ocean search zone was from the missing Boeing 777-200. One of the newspaper's reporters was on board the ship in the southern Indian Ocean and reported the findings via satellite phone.

However, the China Maritime Search and Rescue Center was cautious over the news and said on a verified microblog the “suspected pulse signal picked up by Haixun 01 has not been identified yet”. As of Saturday night, the official Xinhua News Agency said experts on board the ship Haixun 01 were still trying to verify the source of the detected signal.

A black box detector deployed by the Haixun 01 picked up the signal, a ping per second at the frequency of 37.5kHz, at around 25 degrees south latitude and 101 degrees east longitude, said Xinhua.

Jiefang Daily, another Shanghai-based official newspaper with a reporter on board the patrol ship, said on Saturday evening that three crew members on a search raft released by Haixun 01 had first heard the signal briefly on Friday, but weren't able to record it. The signal was heard again for a minute and a half on Saturday afternoon, it said.

Two Chinese navy vessels searching in nearby waters had sailed to the location and were trying to further verify the source of the signal, it said.

Australian Defence Minister David Johnston said he had not received a report on the signal and warned that it may not be from the plane.

“This is not the first time we have had something that has turned out to be very disappointing,” he told ABC television.

“I’m just going to wait for Angus [Houston] and the team and my team to come forward with something that’s positive because this is a very, very difficult task.”

A multinational team lead by Australian Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston called the Joint Agency Co-ordination Centre has been desperately trying to find debris floating in the water or faint sound signals from the flight recorders that could lead them to the aircraft and help unravel the mystery of its fate.

Finding floating wreckage is key to confirming that the detected signal is from Flight MH370..

Beacons in the black boxes emit “pings” so they can be more easily found, but the batteries only last about a month.

Officials have said the hunt for the wreckage is among the hardest ever undertaken.

The recorders could help investigators determine why Flight 370, which disappeared March 8 while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people aboard, veered so far off-course.

Weather conditions in the area, which have regularly hampered crews trying to spot debris, were fair with some rain expected, the Co-ordination Centre said.

A pinger locator is being towed by Australian Defence Vessel Ocean Shield in the first search for the missing flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean. Photo:AFP

Houston had earlier acknowledged the search area was essentially a best guess, and had noted the time when the plane’s locator beacons would shut down was “getting pretty close”.

The overall search area is a 217,000-square-kilometre zone in the southern Indian Ocean, about 1,700 kilometres northwest of the western Australian city of Perth.

The search area had shifted each day as investigators continued to analyse what little radar and satellite data was available while factoring in where any debris may have drifted.

Australia has been co-ordinating the ocean search, and the investigation into the plane’s disappearance is Malaysia’s responsibility. Australia, the US, Britain and China had all agreed to be “accredited representatives” in the investigation.

In related news, the Air Line Pilots Association, a union that represents 30,000 pilots in North America, said in a statement that the Malaysia Airlines tragedy should lead to higher standards of plane tracking technology being adopted by the airline industry.

 

[Talking Donkey]

If the chinese can find the black box or debris from MH370 before the ang moh then confirm chinese is the best.
at the moment ang moh is still the bestest.

 

[po2wq]

If the chinese can find the black box or debris from MH370 before the ang moh then confirm chinese is the best.
at the moment ang moh is still the bestest.

angmo is oredi bestest? ... even if chinese find ze brack box, dey can oni b best? ... dey cannot even b bestester? ...


btw, how cum ur post got no chiobu pix 2day? ...

 

[PrivateEyes]

Malaysia Airlines may face bankruptcy after MH370 tragedy

Staff Reporter
2014-04-05

Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak, at the podium, speaks during a press event on missing flight MH370, March 24. (Photo/CNS)

The tragic and baffling disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has undoubtedly worsened the financial situation of the company as the airline was already suffering a deficit prior to the incident, according to the China Economic Weekly.

As of March 27, an international search has yet to find any definitive clues into what happened to the plane that disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8. Malaysia's prime minister, Najib Razak, announced on March 24 that the flight ended in the southern Indian Ocean with the loss of all 239 people on board. The announcement was met with anger in China, whose nationals made up two thirds of the passengers on board, where it was felt this conclusion should not have been reached before solid evidence of the flight's fate had been found.

Whatever the result be, Malaysia Airlines will have to bear the responsibility and compensate the passengers' families.

Standard & Poor's Financial Services predicts that the payout for compensation claims connected to flight MH370 will be a big as those related to the 9/11 terror attacks in the United States.

Malaysia Airlines has been incurring losses for several consecutive years. Its net loss was pegged at 4.7 billion yuan (US$763.7 million) in 2011 and 810 million yuan (US$130.4 millon) in 2012. Last year, the company's net loss ballooned to 220 million yuan (US$35.4 million) despite an annual sales growth of 9.9%.

Over the past year, share prices of the company have dropped by nearly a quarter, the weekly said, adding that its stock has plunged by as much as 20% since March 8.

The company has yet to offer a final compensation to the passengers' families as the plane remains missing and the cause of the incident remains unclear. According to international regulations, a carrier is obligated to pay an initial compensation to the family of the victims after the occurrence of an aviation incident and has to confirm the final amount of compensation when the causes are confirmed.

Whether the air carrier is responsible for the incident or not, it has to pay a compensation of €113,100 (US$155,700) for each casualty or death in accordance with the Montreal Convention. In other words, Malaysia Airlines is required to pay a minimum of 1.2 million yuan (US$193,200) to the family of each passenger and it will have to bear at least US$28 million in compensation costs.

The amount will increase however if it was proved that Malaysia Airlines was solely responsible for the incident.

Whether the largest air carrier in Malaysia will take responsibility for the plane's disappearance is still unknown, but the company's credibility has been hurt from the manner in which it has handled the aftermath.

The statements made by the company and the Malaysian government have been vague and contradictory, the weekly said, adding that Prime Minister Razak's announcement of the flight crashing in the Indian Ocean was not supported by any solid evidence.

 

[THE_CHANSTER]

Even before the MH370 incident, Malaysia Airlines were in deep financial trouble but were always saved by the government through Khazanah Nasional who are the majority shareholder.
The fiasco with MH370 is simply the final nail in the coffin.

 

[Sinkie]

So the 2 coconuts and magic carpet didn't help the situation at all?

 

[zhihau]

The fiasco with MH370 is simply the final nail in the coffin.

would MAS be like Kingfisher?

 

[THE_CHANSTER]

would MAS be like Kingfisher?

Different I think. Kingfisher was 50% owned by its parent brewery company, Kingfisher Breweries, no Indian government ownership. MAS is majority owned by Khazanah (who are essentially the Malaysian Government). They are Malaysia's equivalent of our GIC.

 

[Talking Donkey]

angmo is oredi bestest? ... even if chinese find ze brack box, dey can oni b best? ... dey cannot even b bestester? ...


btw, how cum ur post got no chiobu pix 2day? ...

shhh...quiet..my tigress is beside me.
all right,good night.

 

[steffychun]

So the 2 coconuts and magic carpet didn't help the situation at all?

Neither has Anwar's rants.

 

[zhihau]

Different I think.

thanks, bro. now wondering if MAS bought insurance for these kind of accidents.

 

[PrivateEyes]

Chinese, Australian ships try to verify potential 'pings' from Malaysia jet

By Lincoln Feast and Swati Pandey
SYDNEY/PERTH, Australia Sun Apr 6, 2014 2:04am EDT

Japan's Maritime Self-Defence Force Commander Hidetsugu Iwamasa is pictured in front of one of their P-3C Orion aircraft currently at RAAF Base Pearce near Perth, April 4, 2014. On Monday it will be 30 days since the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 lost communications and disappeared from civilian radar less than an hour into an overnight flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8. REUTERS/Jason Reed

(Reuters) - Chinese and Australian ships hunting for a missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner have picked up separate acoustic signals in different parts of a vast Indian Ocean search area and are trying to verify if one could be from the plane's black box recorders.

Australian search authorities said on Sunday a Chinese patrol vessel, the Haixun 01, had picked up a fleeting "ping" signal twice in recent days in waters west of Perth, near where investigators believe Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 went down on March 8.

More planes and ships were being sent to assist in that area, but meanwhile, Australia's HMAS Ocean Shield had reported a separate "acoustic event" some 300 nautical miles away.

The Ocean Shield is carrying sophisticated U.S. Navy equipment designed to pick up signals sent from the black boxes, which may hold the key to why the aircraft ended up thousands of kilometers off course.

"We are treating each of them seriously. We need to ensure before we leave any of those areas that this does not have any connection with MH370," Retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, head of the Australian agency coordinating the operation, told a media conference in Perth.

A black box detector deployed by the Haixun 01 picked up the signal with a frequency of 37.5kHz per second - the same as emitted by flight recorders - at about 25 degrees south and 101 degrees east, Xinhua reported on Saturday.

Australian search authorities said such a signal would be consistent with a black box, but both they and Xinhua stressed there was no conclusive evidence linking it to the Boeing 777.

"The 37.5kHz is the specific frequency that these locator pingers operate on," said Anish Patel, president of Sarasota, Florida-based Dukane Seacom, which made the black box locator.

"It's a very unique frequency, typically not found in background ocean noise," such as whales or other marine mammals, he told Reuters.

SOUTHERN AREA BACK IN FOCUS

Houston said analysis of earlier satellite data had again led investigators to refine the search area towards the southern part of the corridor.

"The area of the highest probability is, what we think, the southern part where Haixun 01 is operating. That is why we are really interested in the two acoustic encounters that Haixun 01 has had."

The water was around 4,500 meters (14,800 ft) deep in that part of the search area, Houston added.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he was "hopeful but by no means certain" that the reported pulse signals were related to MH370.

"This is the most difficult search in human history. We are searching for an aircraft which is at the bottom of a very deep ocean and it is a very, very wide search area," Abbott told reporters in Tokyo, where he is on a visit.

Up to a dozen planes and 13 ships will be scouring three separate areas about 2,000 km (1,240 miles) northwest of Perth, Australia's Joint Agency Coordination Centre said on Sunday.

SONAR EQUIPMENT

Authorities have not ruled out mechanical problems as a cause of the plane's disappearance, but say the evidence, including loss of communications, suggests it was deliberately diverted.

Malaysian authorities have faced heavy criticism, particularly from China, for mismanaging the search and holding back information. Most of the 227 passengers were Chinese.

Malaysia said on Saturday it had launched a formal investigation into the plane's disappearance that would include experts from Australia, the United States, China, Britain and France.

Normally, a formal air safety investigation is not launched until wreckage is found. But there have been concerns that Malaysia's informal investigations to date have lacked the legal standing of an official inquiry convened under U.N. rules.

Under International Civil Aviation Organisation rules, the country where the aircraft is registered leads the investigation when the incident takes place in international waters.

Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the investigation would comprise three groups: one would examine maintenance records, structures and systems; an "operations" group would study flight recorders, operations and meteorology; and a "medical and human factors" group would look into psychology, pathology and survival.

(Additional reporting by Tim Hepher in PARIS, Siva Govindasamy and Niluksi Koswanage in KUALA LUMPUR and Jane Wardell in SYDNEY; Editing by Mark Bendeich and Michael Urquhart)