Malaysian flight with 239 people aboard missing, including 153 Chinese nationals

[InformationSociety]

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[InformationSociety]

Undersea volcanoes will make hunt for MH370 harder, says expert as search resumes with Chinese fleet

PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 26 March, 2014, 1:49pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 26 March, 2014, 4:28pm

Agence France-Presse and Stephen Chen in Beijing

A crew member of Chinese icebreaker Xuelong scans the sea to search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370. Photo: Xinhua

The resumed search for wreckage from Flight MH370 could be hampered by a chain of undersea volcanoes that run directly through the area, an expert warned on Wednesday.

Gale force winds, driving rain and mountainous seas prevented any sorties being flown from Perth in Australia’s west on Tuesday, but 12 aircraft were due to be airborne on Wednesday, with South Korean planes joining the hunt for the first time.

The presence of the underwater volcanoes means the ocean floor is extremely rugged and constantly being reshaped by magma flows.

“It’s very unfortunate if that debris has landed on the active crest area, it will make life more challenging,” Robin Beaman, an underwater geology expert at Queensland’s James Cook University said.

“It’s rugged, it’s covered in faults, fine-scale gullies and ridges, there isn’t a lot of sediment blanketing that part of the world because it’s fresh (in geological terms).”

“Today’s search is split into three areas within the same proximity, covering a cumulative 80,000 square kilometres (30,000 square miles),” said the Australian Maritime Safety Authority which is coordinating the operation.

Four more Chinese ships joined the marine search on Wednesday after a small Chinese naval fleet arrived in the search zone with two helicopters, said Chinese state media.

An officer of a Chinese rescue vessel scans the sea surface in the South China Sea with the Chinese Navy's supplying ship Qiandaohu in the background on March 18, 2014. Photo: Xinhua

The fleet, consisting a missile destroyer, a dock landing ship and a large supply vessel, had sailed for five days at top speed after suspending their search in the Gulf of Thailand last week, said Xinhua News Agency.

The Chinese icebreaker Xuelong, or "Snow Dragon", arrived at the same area about the same time and exchanged information with the naval fleet on radio, it said.

The relatively slow polar research vessel spent five days covering 1,300 nautical miles from Perth.

Visibility was good at up to 10 kilometers, but the search for possible debris was complicated by big waves, Xinhua said.

Australian naval vessel the HMAS Success, which was forced to leave the storm-tossed region on Tuesday, has returned and will conduct a surface sweep of a zone where two objects were spotted this week.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the search - now in a recovery phase - would continue until there was no hope of finding anything.

“It is not absolutely open-ended but it is not something we will lightly abandon,” he said.

Mark Binskin, vice chief of Australia’s Defence Force, has underscored the daunting size of the area under scrutiny by air crews flying exhausting sorties far from Australia’s west coast.

A Royal Australia Air Force AP-3C Orion takes off from RAAF Base Pearce in Perth, Australia to resume the search. Photo: AP

“We’re not trying to find a needle in a haystack, we’re still trying to define where the haystack is,” he said Tuesday as authorities face the task of retrieving sunken or floating debris, as well as the “black box” flight recorder.

Numerous aerial sightings of suspected debris since the weekend had raised hopes that wreckage would be found. But none has yet been retrieved.

The US Navy has sent a specialised device to help find the “black box” flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder, along with a robotic underwater vehicle that can scan the ocean’s depths.

Malaysia Airlines confirmed to AFP that the battery which powers the plane’s black box will emit a locator signal of 30 days, once activated by contact with water, giving searchers less than two weeks to find a crash site.

Those efforts will be crucial in determining what caused the Boeing 777 to deviate inexplicably off its intended course between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing, and fly thousands of kilometres in the wrong direction.

Malaysia believes the plane was deliberately diverted by someone on board. In the absence of firm evidence, leading scenarios include a hijacking, pilot sabotage or a crisis that incapacitated the crew and left the plane to fly on auto-pilot until it ran out of fuel.

Two thirds of the passengers were Chinese, and relatives there have accused Malaysia of being deceitful and callous in their handling of the tragedy.

Scores of emotional relatives mounted a protest on Malaysia’s embassy in Beijing on Tuesday, scuffling with guards and abusing the ambassador as they demanded to know what happened to their loved ones.

“Return our relatives,” the family members shouted as they massed at the embassy gates. Another slogan went: “The Malaysian government are murderers.”

Malaysia’s ambassador to China Iskandar Sarudin later arrived at the hotel where relatives are staying, to face an angry tirade. Some shouted at him to kneel before them, while others launched a volley of abuse, calling him a “liar” and “rogue”.

Malaysian authorities have defended their decision to release satellite analysis that determined the plane had plunged into the southern seas far off western Australia, possibly running out of fuel.

On Tuesday, they made public more details of the data used to conclude that the plane was lost.

It said the last complete contact between a satellite that was “pinging” signals to the flight came at 8:11 am Malaysian time (0011 GMT), with another “partial” signal eight minutes later.

The findings, by British satellite communications firm Inmarsat, suggest the plane was in touch nearly two hours after its scheduled 6:30 am landing time in Beijing, and right around the time it would have run out of fuel.

The analysis suggested the plane disappeared for good in the middle of the southern Indian Ocean but Malaysian officials said a precise location could not be determined.

 

[InformationSociety]

US firm representing MH370 families initiates lawsuit against Malaysia Airlines and Boeing

Petition for discovery meant to secure evidence of possible design and manufacturing defects that may have contributed to the disaster

PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 26 March, 2014, 11:44am
UPDATED : Wednesday, 26 March, 2014, 3:30pm
Reuters

Malaysian Airlines and Boeing Co may have to hand over records of possible design and manufacturing defects that may have contributed to the MH370 disaster. Photo: EPA

Malaysian Airlines and Boeing Co are facing a potential lawsuit over the Beijing-bound flight that disappeared more than two weeks ago with 239 people on board, according to a law firm representing passengers’ families.

A petition for discovery has been filed against Boeing Co, manufacturer of the aircraft, and Malaysian Airlines, operator of the plane, Chicago-based Ribbeck Law said in a statement on Tuesday.

The Boeing 777 vanished while flying to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia said on Monday that the missing jetliner had crashed into remote seas off Australia, citing satellite data analysis, and that all on board were presumed dead.

The petition for discovery, filed in a Cook County, Illinois Circuit Court, is meant to secure evidence of possible design and manufacturing defects that may have contributed to the disaster, the law firm said.

The court filing was not immediately available.

The filing initiates a multimillion dollar lawsuit against the airline and Boeing by the passengers’ families, the firm said.

“We believe that both defendants named are responsible for the disaster of Flight MH 370,” Monica Kelly, the lead Ribbeck lawyer in the case, said in the statement.

The petition was filed on behalf of Januari Siregar, whose son was on the flight.

Additional pleadings will be filed in the next few days against other potential defendants that designed or manufactured component parts of the aircraft that may have failed, Kelly said.

Ribbeck is also asking that US scientists be included in the search for wreckage and bodies, the firm said.

A spokesman for Boeing declined comment. A spokesman for Malaysian Airlines could not immediately be reached for comment.

Ribbeck is also representing 115 passengers in the crash of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 in San Francisco in July.

The law firm’s petition is asking the judge to order Boeing to provide the identity of manufacturers of various plane components, including electric components and wiring, batteries, emergency oxygen and fire alarm systems.

It is also seeking the identity of the company or person who last inspected the fuselage and who provided maintenance.

The petition also asks the judge to order Malaysian Airlines to produce information about crew training for catastrophic incidents, security practices, safety training and crew evaluations.

 

[InformationSociety]

China special envoy urges ‘unremitting efforts’ over missing flight MH370

PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 26 March, 2014, 5:50pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 26 March, 2014, 6:50pm

Reuters in Beijing

China's special envoy Zhang Yesui leaves after a meeting with Malaysian government officials on missing flight MH370 in Kuala Lumpur. Photo: Reuters

China’s special envoy to Malaysia, Zhang Yesui, called on Wednesday for “unremitting efforts” over the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, state news agency Xinhua said.

Zhang, who is also China’s vice foreign minister, met Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak earlier in the day, according to Xinhua.

On Tuesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping sent Zhang to consult with the Malaysian government over the missing plane, Xinhua said.

China’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday it hoped Britain could provide satellite data by British firm Inmarsat on the missing Malaysian Airlines plane. When asked whether China wants Britain to give China the satellite information, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hong Lei said he hoped the "relevant country" could provide it.

Citing groundbreaking satellite-data analysis by Inmarsat, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Monday that Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which vanished more than two weeks ago while flying to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur, had crashed in the southern Indian Ocean.

 

[InformationSociety]

Malaysian tourism hit by sharp drop in Chinese visitors in wake of MH370 incident

Chinese tourists are shunning Malaysia, with some even calling for a boycott, in the aftermath of the disappearance of flight MH370

PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 26 March, 2014, 7:52pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 26 March, 2014, 11:30pm

Zhang Hong and Laura Zhou

Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen

Mainland travel agencies have reported a sharp drop in the number of Chinese visitors to Malaysia.

Some mainlanders, led by celebrities, were also calling for a tourism boycott to the popular holiday destination following the disappearance of Flight 370 on March 8.

“In the two weeks after the incident, we have seen the number of clients from northern China going to Malaysia declining 50 per cent compared with the same period last year, including group and independent travellers,” said Dun Jidong, a senior marketing manager at Ctrip.com, China’s largest travel booking website.

Three top travel agencies, China International Travel Service, China Youth Travel Service and BTG International Travel and Tours, have reported similar declines.

“The impact has spread to most destinations in Southeast Asia,” said a travel agent with the China International who declined to be named. “Many of our travel packages include Malaysia and Thailand and people are reluctant to go there not only because of the missing plane, but also Thailand’s political turmoil.”

A graphic from the Malaysian Remote Sensing Agency showing what is thought to be flight wreckage. Image: AP

But at a resort in Kota Kinabalu, the seaside capital of Sabah state in northeast Malaysia, business was unaffected, at least for now, an employee said.

“Most of our clients have booked their rooms one or two months in advance,” said Aaron Chang, a project manager at KK-Suites Residence. “We might see the real impact in one or two months.”

According to Tourism Malaysia, 1.79 million Chinese visited the country last year, a nearly 15 per cent annual increase.

China is the third largest source of visitors for Malaysia, in which tourism is the sixth contributor of its gross domestic product.

Luo Juan, a senior analyst with market research company Forward Information, predicted Chinese arrivals would this year drop by 20-40 per cent, representing 400,000 to 800,000 tourists.

If each tourist spent an average of 10,000 yuan during the stay, the total loss could rise to 4-8 billion yuan, Luo said.

“A recovery might only be seen after about one year,” she said.

It remains to be seen what effect the boycott calls will have on the industry.

Photos from the Malaysian Remote Sensing Agency showing the possible debris of the missing MH 370. Photo: SCMP

Chen Kun, a popular film star in China, urged people to avoid Malaysia in a weibo posting.

“I … will start a boycott from my inner heart on any commercials and travel relating to Malaysia. This will last … until the Malaysian government takes down their clown-like mask and tells the truth,” he said.

Chen has more than 70 million followers on weibo and his post has been republished over 70,000 times, drawing nearly 30,000 comments, many of them supportive.

Some travellers were cancelling their bookings. Wang Dezhang, a businessman in Shanghai, said his wife and daughter, together with 14 other parents and children, changed their plans to visit Malaysia in July.

“We have booked everything, but still decided to cancel the trip as everybody is concerned about the safety issue,” he said.

China Youth Travel Service has stopped collaborating with Malaysia Airlines on package tours in Kota Kinabalu and promised to a full refund to any customers who wanted to cancel.

“After the MH370 incident happened, the number of travel inquiries to Malaysia has almost dropped to zero, although it is the off-season to go to Malaysia,” said Ge Lei, a marketing director with China Youth Travel Service.

The airline has suspended Flight 318/319, which replaced MH 370/371, and service between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing would be put on hold beginning May 2. Some industry insiders say it was due to a lack of passengers.

 

[InformationSociety]

New satellite images show 122 ‘potential objects’ spotted in hunt for Malaysia Airlines jet

Hunt for debris from Malaysia Airlines jet steps up as black box detectors arrive

PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 26 March, 2014, 4:52pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 26 March, 2014, 11:48pm

Danny Lee and Angela Meng in Kuala Lumpur

Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein shows pictures of possible debris of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in Kuala Lumpur. Photo: AFP

Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein shows pictures of possible debris. Photo: AFP

A set of satellite images unveiled yesterday showed 122 "potential objects" floating in the ocean, as China's special envoy stressed to Malaysia the need for an "unremitting" search for flight MH370.

In what could be a debris field from Malaysia Airlines' doomed Boeing 777 jet, the objects were estimated to measure between one and 23 metres, and a number appeared "bright".

An image released by the Malaysian remote Sensing Agency shows the location of unknown objects picked up by satellites on March 24. Photo: SCMP Pictures

The images were captured by France-based Airbus Defence & Space on Monday through gaps in the clouds 2,557 kilometres from Perth - close to satellite sightings previously reported by China and Australia. The objects were contained in an area measuring 400 square kilometres.

Flight MH370 vanished from civilian radar screens less than an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing on March 8, and investigators believe someone aboard may have shut off the plane's communications systems.

"Some of the objects appeared bright, possibly indicating solid materials," said Malaysia's Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein.

"This is the most credible lead we've had so far. [It] seems to corroborate some form of objects and debris and if it is confirmed as MH370, at least we can move on to the next phase of deep-sea surveillance search."

The new images were revealed as relatives of those missing met a Malaysian delegation in Beijing who tried to explain how conclusions were drawn that the plane went down in the sea.

Angry family members questioned the accuracy of a report compiled by British firm Inmarsat and demanded the Malaysians retract a statement that the plane had "ended" in the southern Indian Ocean.

The latest sightings came as search teams stepped up efforts to find some trace of the plane, thought to have crashed on with the loss of all 239 people aboard after flying thousands of kilometres off course.

The 469,407 square nautical mile search area, in the "southern corridor" that the jet was believed to have travelled along, has been divided into two areas, east and west. Six countries - Australia, China, New Zealand, the United States, South Korea and Japan - and 12 planes scoured the seas yesterday after the weather improved following the previous day's grounding.

Three actual objects were identified in the sea - two items believed to be rope seen from a civilian plane and a blue object spotted by the crew of a New Zealand Air Force P-3 Orion, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said.

Highlighting the challenges of air-search reconnaissance, none of the objects was seen on subsequent flyovers, AMSA added.

Earlier in the day China's envoy, deputy foreign minister Zhang Yesui , met Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and a host of officials to seek a further insight into the operation, Xinhua reported.

Zhang said he hoped Malaysia would strengthen its information-sharing with China and provide Beijing with the data that led to the conclusion that the "ill-fated flight ended in the southern Indian Ocean", Xinhua said.

At Hishammuddin's daily press briefing in Kuala Lumpur, he was repeatedly asked about relations between Malaysia and China. He denied a rift had opened up between the countries and said Najib was looking forward to his China visit in May.

"Not many countries in the world could get 26 countries to work together," he said. "I think history will judge us well."

 

[InformationSociety]

Relatives of MH370 passengers cling to conspiracy theories

Staff Reporter
2014-03-26

Relatives of flight MH370 passengers take their protest to the Malaysian embassy in Beijing, March 25. (Photo/CNS)

Malaysian authorities may have concluded that Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 plane crashed into the southern Indian Ocean, but in the absence of a physical discovery of its wreckage, many relatives of passengers as well as conspiracy theorists continue to believe that the Boeing 777-200 and the 239 people on board may have met a different fate.

While the multinational search team continues to comb the waters off the west coast of Australia in search of potential debris picked up on satellite images, Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak declared Tuesday morning that analysts have concluded that the plane, which disappeared on March 8 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, had crashed into the sea, with the loss of all on board.

"This is a remote location, far from any possible landing sites," he said. "It is therefore with deep sadness and regret that I must inform you that, according to new data, flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean."

Some family members of the passengers have refused to accept the announcement, saying that they will not lose hope as long as the wreckage has not been found. Others insist, given the numerous contradictory statements and backtracks from Malaysian officials and admissions that certain information has been kept from the public for "security" reasons, that there is a sinister plot or cover-up involved.

Their optimism that passengers may still be alive has been fueled by theories surrounding the plane's baffling disappearance, especially as investigators have failed to come up with any definitive explanations or motives as to why the plane "deliberately" switched off its communications systems, diverted from its course and apparently ended up on the other side of the planet. It is also still not clear why military radar showed that the plane ascended to 45,000 ft — exceeding the maximum altitude of Boeing 777s — after the initial turn west before diving back down to 23,000 ft. The last satellite "ping" picked up at least five hours after the plane disappeared suggested it was still cruising at 30,000ft.

Some families of the passengers are clinging to the hijacking theory on the basis that the plane could have landed safely with everyone or board being held in a secret location. Some have speculated that the plane could have landed on obscure strips in southern Mongolia, Somalia or even Taliban territory on the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan, though available military radar data in these regions have indicated otherwise.

Apart from claims of a UFO abduction or a Bermuda Triangle-style disappearance into another dimension, one of the most outlandish conspiracy theories is that the flight MH370 plane was diverted onto a US Navy support facility on the island of Diego Garcia.

The European Union Times has reported that, based on an alleged intelligence report from the Kremlin, the US Navy had "captured and then diverted" flight MH370 to the Diego Garcia facility due to a "highly suspicious" cargo load that traces back to the US-flagged container ship MV Maersk Alabama. The cargo, which was examined by top disease experts from the US and China on Diego Garcia, was then flown to the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico on March 19 where it was destroyed in a "massive fireball." It is not clear what happened to the passengers.

Around 300 relatives of flight MH370 passengers staged a protest at the Malaysian embassy in Beijing on Tuesday demanding the Malaysian government reveal the "truth." The Chinese government has also asked that Malaysia immediately provide all evidence leading to the conclusion that the plane crashed.

Conspiracy theories aside, the most prominent explanation that appears to fit with the latest findings is that a catastrophic event mid-flight, such as a mechanical failure, caused the cabin to depressurize, incapacitating everyone on board as the plane continued to fly unpiloted until it ran out of fuel and plunged into the ocean.

The UK's Daily Telegraph, however, reported that "well-placed sources" believe that flight MH370 was deliberately crashed into the ocean in "an apparent suicide mission."

One unnamed official source said investigators are convinced that what happened to the flight was "a deliberate act by someone on board who had to have had the detailed knowledge to do what was done," though nothing so far points to a motive.

The source also said investigators are skeptical of the mechanical failure theory, saying it "does not hinge together" as available evidence suggests the plane was "being flown in a rational way."

The problem with the hijack or sabotage theory, however, is that investigators have so far been unable to discover anything suspicious from the backgrounds of anyone on board. Earlier, authorities suspected two Iranians who boarded the plane with fake passports, though they were later ruled out as they appeared to have been simply trying to emigrate illegally to Europe.

The focus of the investigation is currently on 53-year-old captain, Zaharie Ahmed Shah, after his 27-year-old co-pilot, Fariq Abdul Hamid, was cleared. Though neither pilot had known financial or mental issues, Shah was found to have a home-built flight simulator that he had deleted files on a month earlier and political affiliations with Malaysia's opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who was jailed for five years on a controversial sodomy charge just hours before the flight. None of these leads have panned out for investigators, who are now looking into reports that Shah received a two-minute call from a mystery woman using a number obtained with a false identity shortly before takeoff. They are also reportedly under pressure from the FBI to interview Shah's estranged wife, whom some reports say moved out of their family home the day before the flight.

Until debris from the wreckage is confirmed, it is unlikely that conspiracy theories on the whereabouts of the plane will die down. And unless the black box is retrieved, relatives of passengers and crew on flight MH370 might never know the full truth of what really happened.

 

[InformationSociety]

The 13th Man: 'Extra' MH370 crew member fuels conspiracy theories

Staff Reporter
2014-03-26

Malaysia Airlines CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, right, announces at a press conference on March 25 that flight MH370 crashed in the southern Indian Ocean. (Photo/CNS)

An innocent blunder or another sign that Malaysian authorities are withholding something about the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370?

According to Chinese state media reports, the official statement released by Malaysia Airlines at 10:15pm on March 24 informing relatives that everyone on flight MH370 likely died in a crash made a reference to "226 passengers and 13 friends and colleagues."

Up until that point, all 22 official statement released by the airline since the plane disappeared on March 8 had stated that there were 227 passengers and 12 crew on board.

The discrepancy has fueled conspiracy theories that the mystery "13th crew member" was the person who hijacked or assisted in the hijack of the plane, and that Malaysian authorities are withholding the truth from the public.

On Wednesday, a staff member in Malaysia Air's media department, told the Beijing Youth Daily that the mysterious 13th crew member is a Chinese employee for the airline who happened to be on the flight as a passenger. Due to the overlap the man was categorized as a "passenger" in earlier press releases, the staff member said before denying requests to identify the individual.

The newspaper also stated that a written response provided later by an airline staffer named Adlina Azharuddin explained that there were 226 passengers, 12 crew and an additional Malaysia Airline staff member on board the flight, but did not elaborate on the earlier verbal response.

A further mystery lies in flight MH370's cargo manifest, which has still not been made public. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority told the Beijing Youth Daily that it had requested a copy of the cargo manifest some time ago from Malaysia Airlines in order to match potential debris discovered during the search, but has yet to receive any response.

Meanwhile, the Chinese government has requested that Malaysia immediately turn over all data leading to its conclusion that flight MH370 had crashed into the southern Indian Ocean despite no physical evidence of the wreckage being retrieved thus far from multinational search efforts.

Malaysia's prime minister, Najib Razak, declared at a press conference Tuesday that the latest analysis of satellite data indicated that flight MH370 was still 30,000ft in the air when it delivered its last "ping" at least five hours after it disappeared off radar screens. As the plane was in a remote part of the Indian Ocean with no landing strips and was out of fuel, investigators concluded that the plane crashed, with the loss of all 239 lives on board.

US State Department spokersperson Marie Harf said at a news briefing that US experts are cooperating with Malaysia and are working to verify the satellite data and analysis used to conclude the plane's fate, adding that there is "no reason to believe it's not true."

In China, hundreds of relatives of passengers have refused to accept the announcement, condemning Malaysia for pronouncing the loss of everyone aboard the flight before any conclusive evidence of its wreckage has been discovered. A protest was organized outside the Malaysian embassy in Beijing on Tuesday with demonstrators holding banners with messages such as "Return my family" and "We want the truth." A statement released to media accused Malaysia of being the "executioner" of their loved ones through trying to "delay, conceal, cover up and deceive."

Malaysia Airlines said it will pay US$5,000 to the family of each passenger on flight MH370, not as compensation but as a "condolence," and will organize flights for relatives to Perth, where the search is being coordinated, as soon as debris from the plane is located and confirmed.

Australia's prime minister, Tony Abbott, also announced that his government would waive visa fees for families of the plane's passengers should they want to travel to Australia. The search for debris has currently been suspended due to bad weather conditions but efforts will continue with a focus on finding the remains of the plane and the cause behind the crash, he said.

While the prevailing theory is that a catastrophic mechanical failure incapacitated everyone on flight MH370 before it crashed, investigators are continuing to target the flight's 53-year-old captain, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, despite a preliminary probe failing to link anyone on board in a potential hijack or sabotage motive. There are reports that police are currently looking into claims that the captain received a two-minute call from a mysterious woman using a number obtained from a false identity shortly before take off, and that the FBI is pressuring Malaysian authorities to interview Shah's estranged wife, who reportedly moved out of the family home with their three children a day before the flight.

On Wednesday, an Indian aviation security expert lended support to the pilot suicide theory. In an article published in the local daily the Hindu, captain A Ranganathan said the sequence of events surrounding flight MH370 "has an eerie similarity" to two previous air tragedies — Indonesia's SilkAir flight MI185 in 1999 and EgyptAir flight 990 in 2009 — in which all passengers died after the pilot deliberately crashed the plane into water.

Ranganathan theorized that a pilot of MH370 may have killed all people on board by causing depressuraization which would lead to "brain death" within 15 seconds of all in the cabin, while the cockpit had unlimited access to oxygen.

 

[InformationSociety]

Thunderstorms and high winds threaten search for 122 objects spotted in Malaysia Airlines hunt

Hunt for debris from Malaysia Airlines jet steps up as black box detectors arrive

PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 26 March, 2014, 4:52pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 27 March, 2014, 12:28pm

Danny Lee and Angela Meng in Kuala Lumpur

Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein shows pictures of possible debris of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in Kuala Lumpur. Photo: AFP

Thunderstorms and high winds threatened today's aerial search for more than 120 objects spotted by satellite floating in the sea as the hunt for Malaysia Airlines flight 370 continued.

As sorties set off for the search area thousands of kilometres off the coast of Perth, Australia's Bureau of Meteorology said conditions in the area being scoured were expected to deteriorate later on Thursday.

A set of satellite images unveiled yesterday showed 122 "potential objects" floating in the ocean, as China's special envoy stressed to Malaysia the need for an "unremitting" search for flight MH370.

In what could be a debris field from Malaysia Airlines' doomed Boeing 777 jet, the objects were estimated to measure between one and 23 metres, and a number appeared "bright".

The images were captured by France-based Airbus Defence & Space on Monday through gaps in the clouds 2,557 kilometres from Perth - close to satellite sightings previously reported by China and Australia.

The objects were contained in an area measuring 400 square kilometres.

Flight MH370 vanished from civilian radar screens less than an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing on March 8, and investigators believe someone aboard may have shut off the plane's communications systems.

An image released by the Malaysian remote Sensing Agency shows the location of unknown objects picked up by satellites on March 24. Photo: SCMP Pictures

"Some of the objects appeared bright, possibly indicating solid materials," said Malaysia's Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein.

"This is the most credible lead we've had so far. [It] seems to corroborate some form of objects and debris and if it is confirmed as MH370, at least we can move on to the next phase of deep-sea surveillance search."

The new images were revealed as relatives of those missing met a Malaysian delegation in Beijing who tried to explain how conclusions were drawn that the plane went down in the sea.

Angry family members questioned the accuracy of a report compiled by British firm Inmarsat and demanded the Malaysians retract a statement that the plane had "ended" in the southern Indian Ocean.

The latest sightings came as search teams stepped up efforts to find some trace of the plane, thought to have crashed with the loss of all 239 people aboard after flying thousands of kilometres off course.

The 469,407 square nautical mile search area, in the "southern corridor" that the jet was believed to have travelled along, has been divided into two areas, east and west. Six countries - Australia, China, New Zealand, the United States, South Korea and Japan - and 12 planes scoured the seas yesterday after the weather improved following the previous day's grounding.

Three actual objects were identified in the sea - two items believed to be rope seen from a civilian plane and a blue object spotted by the crew of a New Zealand Air Force P-3 Orion, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said.

Highlighting the challenges of air-search reconnaissance, none of the objects was seen on subsequent flyovers, AMSA added.

Earlier in the day China's envoy, deputy foreign minister Zhang Yesui , met Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and a host of officials to seek a further insight into the operation, Xinhua reported.

Zhang said he hoped Malaysia would strengthen its information-sharing with China and provide Beijing with the data that led to the conclusion that the "ill-fated flight ended in the southern Indian Ocean", Xinhua said.

At Hishammuddin's daily press briefing in Kuala Lumpur, he was repeatedly asked about relations between Malaysia and China. He denied a rift had opened up between the countries and said Najib was looking forward to his China visit in May.

"Not many countries in the world could get 26 countries to work together," he said. "I think history will judge us well."

 

[InformationSociety]

Relatives demand Malaysia retract conclusion that MH370 'ended in Indian Ocean'

PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 26 March, 2014, 5:05am
UPDATED : Thursday, 27 March, 2014, 11:52am

Li Jing and Mandy Zuo

Relatives of passengers aboard flight MH370 hold signs sending good wishes to their loved ones and requesting the truth from the Malaysian government as they head for a protest at the country's embassy in Beijing. Photo: Simon Song

With no wreckage found, several relatives of mainland passengers aboard missing flight MH370 demanded yesterday for Malaysian officials to retract their statement that the plane had "ended in the southern Indian Ocean", as tension between the families and authorities escalated.

At a meeting with Malaysian official delegates at Beijing's Metropark Lido Hotel, about 200 angry relatives questioned Kuala Lumpur's conclusion that the plane had crashed in the Indian Ocean, leaving no survivors.

The delegation - which included Datuk Iskandar Sarudin, Malaysia's ambassador to China, along with an airline representative, an air marshal and air vice-marshal - explained the government's conclusions, but offered no additional information.

The representatives refused to answer family members' technical questions and instead said they would take those queries and concerns - including their demand for a retraction - to investigators in Kuala Lumpur.

One female family member told the Malaysian representatives that the plane's path depicted on British investigators' charts appeared not to match Malaysian military radar.

She also expressed doubts about the accuracy of calculations made by British satellite company Inmarsat, which, using a new method, estimated the plane's location. No debris has been found.

"Is there any possibility that the British organisation made a wrong conclusion as they are using the calculation method for the first time?" she asked.

Another relative said he blamed Malaysia's military for failing to communicate with the plane when it appeared on military radar. "If you ever made an inquiry to the pilot, all of us would not need to be here now," he said.

A Royal Malaysian Air Force lieutenant general whose name was not announced explained that the radar operator identified the craft as a friendly "blip", but added that the incident was under investigation.

Many relatives have pleaded with Malaysian officials to intensify their search efforts. The delegation said the search had been beefed up southwest of Perth, Australia. "We still have not ruled out hijacking. We have not ruled out any scenario," Datuk , the ambassador, said.

Family members also said they were furious that volunteer counsellors initially sent by Malaysia Airlines had not visited the hotel since Monday. Airline CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya had said 700 volunteers would offer support and counselling to relatives around the clock.

A vigil in Jiangsu for the dead. Photo: AFP

An airline representative said Beijing had advised Malaysian volunteers to stay away from the hotel for their safety.

"This was because the situation was out of control after the announcement was made on Monday night," he said.

Some mainland family members in Kuala Lumpur were trying to persuade other relatives in Beijing to fly to the Malaysian capital to press for answers on the missing plane.

"The Malaysian government is afraid of organised, influential protests by us because the media from across the world is here," said Li Peng, a relative from China who flew to Kuala Lumpur. About a dozen mainland relatives flew there after the plane disappeared on March 8.

A clash between relatives and police at Malaysia's embassy. Photo: AFP

In Hong Kong, more than 100 people - some who knew passengers on the missing flight - have sought help from a local counselling charity.

Post Crisis Counselling Network executive director Timothy To Wing-ching said a hotline would serve employees at three multinational firms. Staff there knew some passengers.

In addition, four crisis counsellors are scheduled to answer calls from the public from 10am to 6pm until April 30. The number is 5181 5501.

Additional reporting by Danny Mok

 

[InformationSociety]

Malaysia Airlines MH370: Japan latest country to see potential debris

Bad weather cuts short hunt for jet missing since March 8

The Associated Press Posted: Mar 27, 2014 12:21 AM ET Last Updated: Mar 27, 2014 9:56 AM ET

New satellite images have revealed hundreds of objects in the southern Indian Ocean that could be debris from a Malaysian jetliner missing since March 8, but bad weather has forced searchers to suspend their flights. (Michael Martina/Reuters)

Hints about the lost Malaysian jetliner piled up Thursday, but there was precious little chance to track them down. Bad weather cut short the air and sea hunt for the aircraft as satellite data revealed hundreds more objects that might be wreckage.

Not one piece of debris has been recovered from the plane that went down in the southern Indian Ocean on March 8. For relatives of the 239 people aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, it was yet another agonizing day of waiting.

"Until something is picked up and analyzed to make sure it's from MH370 we can't believe it, but without anything found it's just clues," Steve Wang, whose 57-year-old mother was aboard the flight, said in Beijing. "Without that, it's useless."

Japan said it provided Malaysia with information from satellite images taken Wednesday showing about 10 objects that might be debris from the plane, with the largest measuring about four metres by eight metres. The objects were located about 2,500 kilometres southwest of Perth, Japan's Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office said.

A Thai satellite spotted about 300 objects, ranging from two metres to 16 metres long, about 2,700 kilometres southwest of Perth, said Anond Snidvongs, director of Thailand's space technology development agency. He said the images, taken Monday by the Thaichote satellite, took two days to process and were relayed to Malaysian authorities on Wednesday.

The objects were about 200 kilometres southwest of the area where a French satellite on Sunday spotted 122 objects. It's unknown whether the two satellites detected the same objects; currents in the ocean can run a metre per second and wind also could move material.

The announcements came after the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said it had to pull back all 11 planes scheduled to take part in the search Thursday because of heavy rain, winds and low clouds. Five ships continued the hunt.

All but three of the planes — a U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon, a Japanese P-3 Orion and a Japanese Gulfstream jet — reached the search zone, about 2,500 kilometres southwest of Perth, before the air search was suspended, AMSA spokesman Sam Cardwell said.

They were there "maybe two hours" and found nothing, Cardwell said. "They got a bit of time in, but it was not useful because there was no visibility."

In a message on its Twitter account, AMSA said the bad weather was expected to last 24 hours.

Planes have been flying out of Perth for a week, seeing a few small objects that might or might not be from the plane and nothing of the possible debris fields viewed by the Thai and French satellites. Even the few objects the planes saw seemed to vanish when aircraft went back for another look.

If and when any bit of wreckage from Flight MH370 is recovered and identified, searchers will be able to narrow their hunt for the rest of the Boeing 777 and its black boxes, which could solve the mystery of why the jet flew so far off-course. The plane was supposed to fly from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing but turned away from its route soon after takeoff and flew for several hours before crashing.

Malaysian officials said earlier this week that satellite data confirmed the plane crashed into the southern Indian Ocean. On Thursday, Malaysia Airlines ran a full-page condolence advertisement with a black background in a major Malaysian newspaper.

"Our sincerest condolences go out to the loved ones of the 239 passengers, friends and colleagues. Words alone cannot express our enormous sorrow and pain," read the advertisement in the New Straits Times.

The extreme remoteness of the search area, its frequent high seas and bad weather all complicate the search.

"This is a really rough piece of ocean, which is going to be a terrific issue," said Kerry Sieh, director of the Earth Observatory of Singapore. "I worry that people carrying out the rescue mission are going to get into trouble."

Malaysia has been criticized over its handling of one of the most perplexing mysteries in aviation history. Much of the most strident criticism has come from relatives of the Chinese passengers, some of whom expressed outrage that Malaysia essentially declared their loved ones dead without recovering a single piece of wreckage.

Some relatives of Chinese passengers on board Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 have criticized how Malaysian authorities have handled the investigation for the missing plane. (Alexander F. Yuan/The Associated Press)

China dispatched a special envoy to Kuala Lumpur, Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui, to deal with the crisis. Zhang met with Malaysian Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein on Wednesday and received a briefing on the satellite data that "led to the conclusion that MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean," Malaysia's Ministry of Transport said in a statement.

On Thursday, Malaysian officials met with China's ambassador to Malaysia, Huang Huikang, "to request the government of China to engage and clarify the actual situation to the affected families in particular and the Chinese public in general," the statement said.

Officials still don't know why Flight MH370 disappeared. Investigators have ruled out nothing — including mechanical or electrical failure, hijacking, sabotage, terrorism or issues related to the mental health of the pilots or someone else on board.

On Wednesday, FBI Director James Comey told members of Congress that his investigators should finish in a day or two their analysis of electronics owned by the pilot and co-pilot, work that includes trying to recover files deleted from a home flight simulator used by Capt. Zaharie Ahmad Shah.

Some speculation has focused on Zaharie and his state of mind, but his son, in an interview published Thursday in the New Straits Times, rejected the idea that his father might be to blame.

"I've read everything online. But I've ignored all the speculation. I know my father better," Ahmad Seth said.

 

[InformationSociety]

Thai satellite finds 300 floating objects in search for missing Malaysia Airlines jet

Air search for missing Malaysia Airlines jet called off due to bad weather in Indian Ocean but ships remain

PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 26 March, 2014, 4:52pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 27 March, 2014, 6:34pm

Danny Lee and Angela Meng in Kuala Lumpur

Thai satellite images have shown 300 floating objects in the southern Indian Ocean during a search for the missing Malaysian airliner, an official said Thursday.

The objects, ranging from two to 15 metres in size, were scattered over an area about 2,700 kilometres southwest of Perth, according to the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency.

“But we cannot – dare not – confirm they are debris from the plane,” the agency’s executive director, Anond Snidvongs, told reporters.

Thai satellite images show objects floating in the Indian Ocean. Photo: GISTDA

He said the information had been given to Malaysia.

The pictures were taken by Thailand’s only earth observation satellite on Monday but needed several days to process, Anond added.

He said the objects were spotted about 200 kilometres away from an area where French satellite images earlier showed potential objects in the search for the Boeing 777 which vanished on March 8 with 239 people aboard.

Photo: GISDA

Thailand faced criticism after announcing more than a week after the jet’s disappearance that its radar had picked up an “unknown aircraft” minutes after flight MH370 last transmitted its location.

The Thai air force said it did not report the findings earlier as the plane was not considered a threat.

The Malaysia Airlines plane is presumed to have crashed in the Indian Ocean after mysteriously diverting from its Kuala Lumpur-Beijing path and apparently flying for hours in the opposite direction.

Thunderstorms and gale-force winds grounded the international air search for wreckage on Thursday.

A Chinese Air Force Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft used in the search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 returns from its mission at Perth International Airport. Photo: Reuters

Severe weather on Thursday halted an air search for a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet presumed crashed in the southern Indian Ocean, frustrating hopes of finding what new satellite images showed could be a large debris field.

However, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said ships would remain in the area and will attempt to continue searching as forecasters warned of 24 hours of bad weather.

An international search team of 11 military and civilian aircraft and five ships had been heading to an area where more than 100 objects that could be from the Boeing 777 had been identified by French satellite pictures earlier this week.

Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein shows pictures of possible debris of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in Kuala Lumpur. Photo: AFP

"The forecast in the area was calling for severe icing, severe turbulence and near zero visibility," said Lieutenant Commander Adam Schantz, the officer in charge of the U.S. Navy Poseidon P8 maritime surveillance aircraft detachment.

"Anybody who’s out there is coming home and all additional sorties from here are cancelled."

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which is coordinating the operation, confirmed flights had been cancelled and ships were leaving the search area due to the weather.

A set of satellite images unveiled yesterday showed 122 "potential objects" floating in the ocean, as China's special envoy stressed to Malaysia the need for an "unremitting" search for flight MH370.

In what could be a debris field from Malaysia Airlines' doomed Boeing 777 jet, the objects were estimated to measure between one and 23 metres, and a number appeared "bright".

The images were captured by France-based Airbus Defence & Space on Monday through gaps in the clouds 2,557 kilometres from Perth - close to satellite sightings previously reported by China and Australia.

The objects were contained in an area measuring 400 square kilometres.

Flight MH370 vanished from civilian radar screens less than an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing on March 8, and investigators believe someone aboard may have shut off the plane's communications systems.

An image released by the Malaysian remote Sensing Agency shows the location of unknown objects picked up by satellites on March 24. Photo: SCMP Pictures

"Some of the objects appeared bright, possibly indicating solid materials," said Malaysia's Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein.

"This is the most credible lead we've had so far. [It] seems to corroborate some form of objects and debris and if it is confirmed as MH370, at least we can move on to the next phase of deep-sea surveillance search."

The new images were revealed as relatives of those missing met a Malaysian delegation in Beijing who tried to explain how conclusions were drawn that the plane went down in the sea.

Angry family members questioned the accuracy of a report compiled by British firm Inmarsat and demanded the Malaysians retract a statement that the plane had "ended" in the southern Indian Ocean.

The latest sightings came as search teams stepped up efforts to find some trace of the plane, thought to have crashed with the loss of all 239 people aboard after flying thousands of kilometres off course.

The 469,407 square nautical mile search area, in the "southern corridor" that the jet was believed to have travelled along, has been divided into two areas, east and west. Six countries - Australia, China, New Zealand, the United States, South Korea and Japan - and 12 planes scoured the seas yesterday after the weather improved following the previous day's grounding.

Three actual objects were identified in the sea - two items believed to be rope seen from a civilian plane and a blue object spotted by the crew of a New Zealand Air Force P-3 Orion, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said.

Highlighting the challenges of air-search reconnaissance, none of the objects was seen on subsequent flyovers, AMSA added.

Earlier in the day China's envoy, deputy foreign minister Zhang Yesui , met Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and a host of officials to seek a further insight into the operation, Xinhua reported.

Zhang said he hoped Malaysia would strengthen its information-sharing with China and provide Beijing with the data that led to the conclusion that the "ill-fated flight ended in the southern Indian Ocean", Xinhua said.

At Hishammuddin's daily press briefing in Kuala Lumpur, he was repeatedly asked about relations between Malaysia and China. He denied a rift had opened up between the countries and said Najib was looking forward to his China visit in May.

"Not many countries in the world could get 26 countries to work together," he said. "I think history will judge us well."

 

[InformationSociety]

Are Chinese celebrities stoking resentment against Malaysia over MH370 disaster?

Some weibo stars blamed for stoking incendiary war of words by calling for boycott against Malaysia

PUBLISHED : Thursday, 27 March, 2014, 3:29pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 27 March, 2014, 4:30pm

Amy Li [email protected]

A relative of passengers on missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 yells at a security personnel during a protest outside the Malaysian embassy in Beijing on Tuesday.

Bloggers and columnists warned against inflammatory speech and urged some celebrities to refrain from stoking further tensions, as calls on social media to boycott Malaysian tourism and products continued to gain traction.

Sina Weibo users today lashed out against those who launched attacks at Malaysian citizens - including Malaysian celebrities of Chinese descent - in retaliation over Malaysia's handling of the search for flight MH370.

They urged “rational patriotism”, where instead of blindly boycotting Malaysia and fanning hatred, people should focus on finding the truth for the sake of the passengers' families.

Some mainland internet users have left slurs and insults on the Sina Weibo pages of famous Malaysian-Chinese singers including Fish Leong and Victor Wong.

Just months ago in October, Leong, who identifies as Malaysian, received glowing coverage from the Chinese media and netizens after Chinese president Xi Jinping mentioned her name on a diplomatic visit to Kuala Lumpur partly to illustrate pop culture parallels between the two nations.

Malaysian Chinese singer Fish Leong's page was bombarded with slurs and insults. Photo: SCMP

But now she became the subject of vitriol. “What are you hiding from us?,” one blogger wrote on Leong’s page, in one of the milder comments on her page.

Others left obscenities. One called Malaysians "inferior" and said they were "not welcome in China".

Malaysian officials have been criticised for giving confusing information, or are sometimes accused of witholding information, and failing to adequately comfort the families of the mostly Chinese passengers on the crashed jetliner.

Some opinion writers suggested a handful of mainland celebrities, many with millions of weibo followers, have played a part in encouraging the public to vent their anger at Malaysians.

File photo of Chinese film star Chen Kun in 2013 Hong Kong film Bends. Photo: Handout

Chen Kun, a mainland film star with 70 million Sina Weibo followers, has said he would boycott Malaysian products and tourism until the Malaysian government “takes down their clown-like mask and tells the truth” about MH370.

Famous TV show host Meng Fei expressed similar sentiments.

But Pan Caifu, a well-known columnist and microblogger, called attacks against Malaysians “stupid” and urged public figures to stop adding fuel to the fire.

“Celebrities were irresponsible for provoking anger," he said in a column published on The Beijing News today.

“Malaysia has always been China’s loyal friend, and the Malaysians have also criticised their government after the crisis," he said.

Zhao Chu, a columnist with 10 million Sina Weibo followers, cited more constructive ways of venting anger.

“If you really care about the Chinese passengers onboard, you should pressure the Chinese government into better co-ordinating with the Malaysians and make explicit demands."

Zhao also cautioned that celebrities should refrain from “abusing their influence”.

Part of the social media debate also centred on how Chinese anger against Malaysia could be pushing the Southeast Asian ally closer towards the United States.

Microbloggers cited a Twitter message posted by the US embassy in Kuala Lumpur, saying: “Not giving up. We're with you Malaysia."

“Even if the US was only pretending to be friends [with Malaysia], I think it might be working,” one microblogger wrote.

The difficult search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 began after it disappeared from civilian aviation radars on March 8. Tensions have flared between aggrieved Chinese families staying in Beijing and Malaysian authorities since.

Mainland travel agencies have reported a sharp drop - some as much as 50 per cent - in the number of Chinese visitors to Malaysia compared to the same period last year.

 

[InformationSociety]

Hunt for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 to be most ‘expensive in history’

Chinese scientists warn that nations will face bill for hundreds of millions of US dollars, as Thai satellite pinpoints 300 objects in ocean

PUBLISHED : Thursday, 27 March, 2014, 11:39pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 27 March, 2014, 11:46pm

Stephen Chen [email protected]

A Chinese IL-76 aircraft prepares to take off to search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 at Perth International Airport on March. Photo: Xinhua

The hunt for doomed Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is likely to be the most expensive in aviation history, Chinese scientists warned yesterday, as Thailand said it had spotted hundreds of objects near the search area in the Indian Ocean.

The annual bill could run to 10 times that of the two-year hunt for an Air France plane five years ago and would cost hundreds of millions of US dollars, they said.

France and Brazil spent more than US$40 million over two years to recover the black boxes from Air France flight 447, which crashed in the Atlantic Ocean in 2009 en route to Rio de Janeiro from Paris. Officials halted the operation, which used underwater robots to scour the seabed, after search crews found 50 of the 228 bodies.

But Zhao Chaofang, an oceanographer at the Ocean University of China in Qingdao, estimated that the cost of finding MH370 could total more than 10 times that of the Air France search annually.

An undated image taken by a Thai satellite showing potential objects floating near the search area for the missing plane. Photo: EPA

Some scientists believe China alone has already spent hundreds of millions of yuan, he added. "If the operation is stretched to a long-term search for years, US$200 million per year is barely enough to maintain the multinational effort," Zhao said.

A senior researcher at the Civil Aviation University of China, who declined to be named, agreed the cost would "far, far exceed" that of the Air France search. Experts said it was unclear who might ultimately foot the cost of finding MH370.

But Hishammuddin Hussein, Malaysia's acting transport minister, has stressed that the country had not discussed the issue with other nations.

"Nobody, not the Malaysian government, none of our partners, have talked about dollars and cents," he said. "It's all about trying to find the aircraft. It did not even cross our minds."

Thailand said a satellite pinpointed about 300 objects near where planes and ships have been hunting for debris from MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean, where it crashed on March 8 after taking off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing.

But storms caused Australia to pull back all planes due to continue the search yesterday.

No international protocol exists to assign or split accident investigation costs. Oh Ei Sun, of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said that in theory, the lead investigating nation should pay.

But in practice, participating nations usually helped with the costs to show goodwill.

Crews from 27 nations, including Malaysia, have mobilised resources and contributed to the search for the plane, Malaysian officials said.

China has 10 ships on the mission, Australia five, Malaysia six, and there is one from the UK. Each of these ships burns at least 1,000 yuan (HK$1,260) of fuel per hour, Zhao said.

The cost of the deployment of satellites will also add up. China has used more than 20 satellites, Zhao said. Each of these satellites cost about 400 million yuan, with an average life span of about four years, potentially costing one billion yuan already, he said.

Additional reporting by Ernest Kao, Teddy Ng, Danny Lee, Associated Press

 

[InformationSociety]

Hong Kong executives face severe stress over missing Malaysia Airlines flight

PUBLISHED : Thursday, 27 March, 2014, 11:59pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 27 March, 2014, 11:59pm

Lo Wei [email protected]

The missing MH 370 had severe impact on some of the executives in Hong Kong that they became afraid of taking flights and one even fell physically ill when setting off on a business trip. Photo: Reuters

Operations of multinational companies with offices in Hong Kong have been hampered by severe emotional stress on senior executives since the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

Some suffered emotional collapse and were unable to work or travel after learning that colleagues were on board the lost Boeing 777, a counselling charity said.

The affected staff members were among more than 100 employees of three companies in Hong Kong who sought help from the Post Crisis Counselling Network.

"Some of these senior executives collapsed emotionally," the network's executive director Timothy To Wing-ching said. "They couldn't work and the company's operations are affected."

To said the passenger list of the doomed aircraft included senior executives from the three companies so many of those seeking help were also at management level.

Some became afraid of taking flights and one fell physically ill when setting off on a business trip.

The network, which also helped people affected by the catastrophic Sichuan and Japan earthquakes, provides free counselling services, including office visits for group counselling.

An estimated 300 people from the three companies know the missing passengers and are suffering post-traumatic stress disorder.

To said some had yet to seek help.

To reach them and others affected by the plane's loss, including those distressed by news reports, the network yesterday started a special hotline - 51815501.

The network says staff of the three companies may be the tip of the iceberg with many other Hongkongers possibly knowing passengers on the flight.

To said people recovered from post-traumatic stress disorder when they were able to release their grief and the best way to help them was by listening to them.

There are two main types of sufferer - those who appear calm but are suppressing their emotions, and those who vent their emotions. It is usually easier for the latter to recover. Senior executives of large firms were usually rational and educated people and might belong to the suppressed type, To said.

 

[InformationSociety]

Minister: Using Interpol database may have slowed immigration checks

The Malay Mail Online – Wed, Mar 26, 2014

Malaysia’s immigration authorities had skipped checks against an international database of stolen and lost passports as it could have slowed down clearance of passengers, Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. — Reuters pic

KUALA LUMPUR, March 26 ― Malaysia’s immigration authorities had skipped checks against an international database of stolen and lost passports as it could have slowed down clearance of passengers, Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said today.

Zahid, who was commenting on two Iranians who had managed to board the missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370 using stolen passports, said the country’s immigration’s equipment could not handle the massive global database of 40.2 million lost passports.

“In this case, information shows 40.2 million lost passports (information) were kept by Interpol, a figure that is too large. Malaysia’s immigration department’s database management system does not have the capability to keep it based on the existing capacity.

“Furthermore, Interpol’s information of lost (passports) may slow down the process of immigration’s check at counters,” Zahid told Parliament in his winding up speech on the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong’s royal address.

But Zahid said Malaysia’s immigration would be able to easily screen through and monitor passengers entering and exiting the country based on the names in the International Criminal Police Organisation’s (Interpol) Suspect List.

Interpol had actually handed the Stolen and Lost Travel Documents (SLTD) database to the police force in a disc, Zahid said after pointing out the difficulties in checking it.

Today, Zahid maintained that the country's immigration department had matched “world standards” when carrying out border control, pointing out that its officers were highly trained.

He said immigration officers guarding Malaysia's entry points were trained by other countries including the US, UK, Australia and Canada to carry out profiling and detect false travel documents.

Any suspicions would prompt a second check through a Document Examination Centre (DEC), with a special lab at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) used by the immigration authorities to check dubious documents since 2007.

All DEC officers are trained and recognised by international agencies, he said.

But the two Iranians had failed to set off alarms during immigration checks, with Zahid detailing how KLIA officers had approved the duo's entry and exit despite following standard operating procedures.

Zahid said local immigration records showed that the duo had entered the country for the first time, indicating that they would not have managed to evade detection if they were re-entering the country using false identities.

He said the stolen passports used by the duo were genuine documents, but also pointed out that passports issued by some countries lacked security features such as biometrics and barcodes.

But Zahid also said the lack of such features in passports of foreign visitors could be addressed with the use of Advance Passenger Clearing System.

In Parliament today, Zahid listed the chronological account of how the two Iranians travelled from their home country to Doha, Qatar and then Phuket, Thailand where they bought the stolen passports believed to be priced at US$10,000 (RM32,938) each.

He confirmed that the two left Thailand and entered Malaysia using the stolen passports.

But he repeated the probe’s conclusion that both Iran nationals were neither “criminals” nor “terrorists”.

The discovery of the two Iranian passengers had deepened the mystery surrounding the disappearance of MH370, with a multinational search for the plane and the 239 passengers on board now in its 19th day.

 

[InformationSociety]

Search for lost Malaysian jet shifts significantly after new lead

By Lincoln Feast and Michael Martina
SYDNEY/PERTH Thu Mar 27, 2014 11:08pm EDT

A crew member aboard the Australian Navy ship, HMAS Success, can be seen through a window looking for debris in the southern Indian Ocean during the search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in this picture released by the Australian Defence Force March 28, 2014. REUTERS-Australian Defence Force-Handout via Reuters

(Reuters) - Australian authorities said on Friday they were shifting the focus of their Indian Ocean search for the wreckage of Malaysia's missing jet, moving it 1,100 km (685 miles) to the northeast after receiving new information from Malaysia.

For more than a week, ships and surveillance planes have been scouring seas 2,500 km (1,550 miles) southwest of Perth, where satellite images had suggested there could be debris from Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which went missing on March 8 with 239 people aboard.

The dramatic shift in the search area was based on analysis of radar data between the South China Sea and the Strait of Malacca, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said. At that time, the Boeing 777 was making a radical diversion west from its course from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

The data indicated the plane was travelling faster than previously estimated, meaning it was burning fuel faster and reducing the distance it might have traveled south into the Indian Ocean, AMSA said in a statement.

"As a result today's search will shift to an area 1,100 km to the northeast based on updated advice provided by the international investigation team in Malaysia," it said.

Satellite images had shown suspected debris, including pieces as large as 24 meters (70 feet), within the original search area in the southern Indian Ocean.

An AMSA spokeswoman said she had no further information on what the debris seen in satellite images might have been or if it was related to the missing plane.

Potential debris has also been seen from search aircraft but none has been picked up or confirmed as the wreckage of Flight MH370, which disappeared from civilian radar screens less than an hour after taking off.

Officials believe someone on board may have shut off the plane's communications systems before flying it thousands of miles off course where it crashed into the ocean in one of the most isolated and foreboding regions on the planet.

Theories range from a hijacking to sabotage or a possible suicide by one of the pilots, but investigators have not ruled out technical problems.

SHIFTING SEARCHES

Ten international aircraft and six ships were now being directed to the new area of 319,000 square kilometers and around 1,850 km (1,150 miles) west of Perth. The Australian Geospatial-Intelligence Organisation was also redirecting satellites there, AMSA said.

The latest twist underscores the perplexing and frustrating hunt for evidence in the near three-week search. It comes less than a day after sightings of possible wreckage captured by Thai and Japanese satellites in roughly the same frigid expanse of sea as earlier images reported by France, Australia and China.

"We detected floating objects, perhaps more than 300," Anond Snidvongs, the head of Thailand's space technology development agency, told Reuters on Thursday. "We have never said that the pieces are part of MH370 but have so far identified them only as floating objects."

The U.S. Navy said on Friday it was sending a second P8 Poseidon maritime surveillance aircraft to help in the search.

"It's critical to continue searching for debris so we can reverse-forecast the wind, current and sea state since March 8th to recreate the position where MH370 possibly went into the water," said Commander Tom Moneymaker, a U.S. 7th Fleet oceanographer.

The United States has also sent a device that can be towed behind a ship to pick up faint pings from the plane's black box voice and data recorders, but time is running out.

"We've got to get this initial position right prior to deploying the Towed Pinger Locator since the MH370's black box has a limited battery life and we can't afford to lose time searching in the wrong area," Moneymaker said.

The prolonged and so far fruitless search and investigation have taken a toll, with dozens of distraught relatives of 150 Chinese passengers clashing with police and accusing Malaysia of "delays and deception".

Chinese insurance companies have started paying compensation to the families of passengers, some of the firms and state media said.

(Additional reporting by Suilee Wee in Beijing, Niluksi Koswanage in Kuala Lumpur, Stanley White in Tokyo and Amy Sawitta Lefevre in Bangkok; Editing by Dean Yates)

 

[InformationSociety]

Were they looking in the wrong place? Search for lost Malaysia Airlines flight shifts 1,100km

New information from Malaysia prompts rescue workers to move focus of search for missing jet 1,100km to the northeast of previous location

PUBLISHED : Friday, 28 March, 2014, 11:35am
UPDATED : Friday, 28 March, 2014, 2:01pm

Reuters in Sydney and Perth

Australian authorities said on Friday they were shifting the focus of their Indian Ocean search for the wreckage of Malaysia’s missing jet, moving it 1,100km to the northeast after receiving new "credible information" from Malaysia.

Missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370 was flying faster and burning more fuel than was previously thought, reducing the distance into the Indian Ocean it is believed to have travelled, Australian officials announced.

The new location is away from the strong winds and rough seas of the Roaring Forties and much closer to the Australian coast, and will allow spotter planes to spend more time at the scene.

For more than a week, ships and surveillance planes had been scouring seas 2,500km southwest of Perth, where satellite images had suggested there could be debris from Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which went missing on March 8 with 239 people aboard. Now it seems that search may have been in vain.

A Korean P-3 Orion aircraft takes off from the Royal Australian Air Force Base Pearce during search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, near Perth on Friday. Photo: Reuters

The dramatic shift in the search area was based on further analysis of radar data between the South China Sea and the Strait of Malacca, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said.

Martin Dolan, the chief commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, said the new information was the “best estimate” in which the aircraft is likely to have crashed into the ocean, taking into account drift information as well as the likely entry point of the aircraft into the water.

“However, this information needs to be continually adjusted for the length of time elapsed since the aircraft went missing and the likely drift of any wreckage floating on the ocean surface,” Dolan said, at a press conference in Canberra.

He said an assessment of the speed was made before MH370 left Malaysia’s radar coverage, leading to a set of assumptions and calculations from previous Inmarsat data and new analysis from Boeing.

“The assumption is the plane was travelling at close to a constant speed," he added.

Satellite images had shown suspected debris, including pieces as large as 24 metres, within the original search area in the southern Indian Ocean.

An AMSA spokeswoman said she had no further information on what the debris seen in satellite images might have been or if it was related to the missing plane.

Potential debris has also been seen from search aircraft but none has been picked up or confirmed as the wreckage of Flight MH370, which disappeared from civilian radar screens less than an hour after taking off.

Officials believe someone on board may have shut off the plane’s communications systems before flying it thousands of miles off course where it crashed into the ocean in one of the most isolated and forbidding regions on the planet.

Theories range from a hijacking to sabotage or a possible suicide by one of the pilots, but investigators have not ruled out technical problems.

Ten international aircraft and six ships were now being directed to the new area of 319,000 square kilometres and around 1,850km west of Perth. The Australian Geospatial-Intelligence Organisation was also redirecting satellites there, AMSA said. The search vessels include two Royal Australian Air Force P3 Orions, a Japanese coast guard jet, a Republic of Korea P3 Orion, a Republic of Korea C130 Hercules, a Royal New Zealand Air Force P3 Orion, a Chinese military Ilyushin IL-76, a United States Navy P8 Poseidon aircraft, and one civil jet acting as a communications relay.

A further Australian Air Force P3 Orion has been placed on standby at Pearce to investigate any reported sightings.

The latest twist underscores the perplexing and frustrating hunt for evidence in the near three-week search. It comes less than a day after sightings of possible wreckage captured by Thai and Japanese satellites in roughly the same frigid expanse of sea as earlier images reported by France, Australia and China.

Satellite image showing "300 objects of various sizes" in the southern Indian Ocean southwest of Perth, according to Thailand's space technology development agency. Photo: AP

“We detected floating objects, perhaps more than 300,” Anond Snidvongs, the head of Thailand’s space technology development agency, told reporters on Thursday. “We have never said that the pieces are part of MH370 but have so far identified them only as floating objects.”

The US Navy said on Friday it was sending a second P8 Poseidon maritime surveillance aircraft to help in the search.

“It’s critical to continue searching for debris so we can reverse-forecast the wind, current and sea state since March 8 to recreate the position where MH370 possibly went into the water,” said Commander Tom Moneymaker, a US 7th Fleet oceanographer.

The United States has also sent a device that can be towed behind a ship to pick up faint pings from the plane’s black box voice and data recorders, but time is running out.

“We’ve got to get this initial position right prior to deploying the Towed Pinger Locator since the MH370’s black box has a limited battery life and we can’t afford to lose time searching in the wrong area,” Moneymaker said.

The prolonged and so far fruitless search and investigation have taken a toll, with dozens of distraught relatives of 150 Chinese passengers clashing with police and accusing Malaysia of “delays and deception”.

Chinese insurance companies have started paying compensation to the families of passengers, some of the firms and state media said.

 

[InformationSociety]

Missing Malaysian Flight MH370: The £450m question – Why are Western lives worth more than Chinese aboard the stricken jet?

Search for debris suspended due to bad weather - yet families already being urged to consider potential pay-outs

Adam Withnall
Thursday 27 March 2014

As Chinese life insurance companies started paying out to the families of those on board Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, relatives of passengers from different countries faced the prospect of wide discrepancies in the compensation from the airline.

According to the Chinese state news agency Xinhua, the country’s largest insurance company China Life had 32 clients on board the flight when it disappeared into the southern Indian Ocean.

The families of seven passengers have already received pay-outs, and it is estimated that the company will pay out a total of 9 million yuan (£875,000), an average of less than £30,000 per person.

Meanwhile, experts have warned that Malaysian Airlines could face compensation costs of up to $750 million (£450 million).

Though no debris has been found from the missing Boeing 777 and Chinese families continue to protest that they have not been told “ the whole truth” by Malaysian authorities, a US-based law firm has also already come forward to say it is preparing to bring lawsuits against the airline and plane manufacturer.

Under the terms of the Montreal Convention, which was drawn up to deal with the multinational issue of aircraft disasters, a lawsuit can be brought in any one of five possible courts – the country of origin for the flight (Malaysia), the country where the flight was headed (Beijing), the country where the airline is based, the country where the tickets were bought or the home country of the individual passenger.

This raises the possibility of some passengers’ families receiving far smaller pay-outs than those from other countries.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 is thought to have crashed on 8 March with the loss of all 239 people aboard after flying thousands of miles off course. More than 150 of the passengers were Chinese.

A US-based aviation crash attorney, Floyd Wisner, told CNBC: “ For the majority of passengers on this flight, this [the country where the lawsuit can be brought] is either China or Malaysia and these countries have very limited views of damages as opposed to America.

“They could evaluate these cases and say a Chinese life is (of) less value than an American life. That's unfair and that's going to cause problems.”

Wisner said that the airline could pay out between $500 and $750 million (£300-£450 million) in total compensation to the families, and was likely to have liability insurance to value of around $1 billion.

Chicago-based Ribbeck Law said it expects to represent families of more than half of the passengers on board the missing Malaysian Airlines flight in a lawsuit against the carriers and Boeing, alleging the plane had crashed due to mechanical failure.

The firm has filed a petition for discovery against the manufacturer and Malaysian Airlines in a Cook County, Illinois Circuit Court. The petition is meant to secure evidence of possible design and manufacturing defects that may have contributed to the disaster, the law firm said.

Though both Boeing and Malaysian Airlines were named in the filing, the focus of the case will be on Boeing, Ribbeck's lawyers told reporters, as they believe that the incident was caused by mechanical failure.

“Our theory of the case is that there was a failure of the equipment in the cockpit that may have caused a fire that rendered the crew unconscious, or perhaps because of the defects in the fuselage which had been reported before there was some loss in the cabin pressure that also made the pilot and co-pilot unconscious,” said Monica Kelly, head of Global Aviation Litigation at Ribbeck Law.

“That plane was actually a ghost plane for several hours until it ran out of fuel.”

Kelly said the conclusion was made based on experience on previous incidents, dismissing the possibilities of hijacking or pilot suicide.

The lawsuit, soon to be filed, would seek millions of dollars of compensation for each passenger and ask Boeing to repair its entire 777 fleet.

 

[InformationSociety]

Chinese online travel agencies ban Malaysia Airlines ticket sales

PUBLISHED : Friday, 28 March, 2014, 2:48pm
UPDATED : Friday, 28 March, 2014, 3:58pm

Amy Li [email protected]

A grieving relative of a Chinese passenger on missing flight outside the Malaysian embassy in Beijing. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Popular anger in China against Malaysia's perceived mishandling of the MH370 crisis continues to boil, as several top online travel agencies announced boycotts against Malaysia Airlines until it "gets to the bottom of the truth on Flight MH370.”

Agencies including eLong, LY.com, Qunar, and Mango, which are among the largest online ticket and travel vendors, said they had banned sales of Malaysia Airlines' tickets due to public anger against the carrier and the Malaysian government.

However, Ctrip.com, the country's largest online travel agency, had not put a similar ban in place as of Friday "due to objections raised by the sales department," one Ctrip employee told the South China Morning Post on the condition of anonymity.

“We will continue the ban indefinitely until the Malaysian government and Malaysia Airlines release every piece of information they have in order to find out the truth about the missing flight as soon as possible, ” reads a statement eLong published on its official Weibo page.

Two passengers on the missing fight MH370 had booked their tickets via eLong, the agency said in its statement, and that it would pay each family 100,000 yuan (HK$125,873) “as a consolation.”

A statement issued by LY.com says the agency has stopped selling all Malaysia Airlines tickets. Photo: weibo screenshot

In its online statement LY.com said it would offer a full refund to clients wishing to cancel bookings of the airline's tickets and would carry on the ban until the company “sorts out the truth and offers a satisfactory explanation to all the victims and the Chinese people”.

The announcements seemed to have pleased some net users. The eLong statement had received over 7,000 comments and more than 10,000 reposts as of Friday.

“eLong has proved it has a conscience, and I will book from them in the future,” read a comment by one microblogger.

A statement issued by eLong says the agency has stopped selling all Malaysia Airlines tickets. Photo: weibo screenshot

Others said they were displeased with the fact that Ctrip didn’t join its competitors in banning Malaysia Airlines ticket sales.

Ctrip, Qunar and LY.com ranked among the top three most influential online travel agencies in China, according to a 2013 research conducted by China IT Research Centre.

As of the third quarter of 2013, Ctrip led the market with 48.9 per cent of the total sales of China’s online travel booking market, followed by eLong (9.5 per cent) and LY.com (6.3 per cent), according to statistics released by iResearch, a market research firm in China.

NASDAQ-listed Ctrip posted a total revenue of 5.4 billion yuan in the 2013 fiscal year, according to its financial statement.

Amid growing calls on China's social media to boycott Malaysian tourism and products this week, some bloggers and columnists have warned against stoking further tension between the two countries and urged for calm and help for the passengers' families.