Baggage of five who did not fly MH370 ‘clean’, says DCA
The Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) said today the baggage of five people who checked in but did not board a Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight that disappeared was found to be 'clean'.
“We removed their baggage. Every piece of baggage was recorded and given a unique serial number so that the correct baggage was removed from the aircraft,” said DCA director-general Datuk Azharuddin Abdul Rahman (pic, 3rd left).
On reports of two passengers boarding the aircraft with stolen passports, he said details could not be revealed now as it might jeopardise investigations.
Azharuddin noted that the authorities were investigating the case and they were going through video footage of the two passengers.
“Once we get any report from the authorities, we will inform what has been gathered by the team of experts,” he told a news conference.
Azharuddin said security at the KL International Airport (KLIA) complied with international standards and met the requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organisation.
"We have a National Civil Aviation Security Programme that we have to comply with. DCA has done an audit of KLIA and we have been audited by the transport security administrators of the United States and the Australian security office in recent years," he said.
He said Malaysian authorities had reacted properly, even though it was not an easy task.
"Experts around the world have mentioned that it is a very big area for us to cover; we all have to work together in order to find the aircraft," he said.
Asked whether there was a time-frame set for the search operation, Azharuddin said there was none.
Meanwhile, MAS group chief executive officer Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said they were making arrangements for the next-of-kin of Flight MH370 passengers from China to be flown to Kuala Lumpur, either today or tomorrow.
"We have made an offer of two next-of-kin of every passenger to be flown either today or tomorrow, and three more next-of-kin to be flown later," he said.
MAS Flight MH370, carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew, went missing en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing about an hour after taking off from the KL International Airport at 12.41 am Saturday. It should have landed in Beijing at 6.30 am. – Bernama, March 10, 2014.
