Search area for missing flight MH370 expanded as operations intensify
The search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has now been expanded to land and sea, covering even the west coast of Malaysia, said the Department of Civil Aviation today.
DCA director-general Datuk Azharuddin Abdul Rahman (pic) said from tomorrow, the search area will be expanded 100 nautical miles (185km) from Igari, off Kota Baru, and will be expanded further in the coming days.
He said the area being combed also included the northern tip of Sumatra on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia.
Azharuddin said the expansion of search areas was based on the flight path and the possibility of a turn-back by the missing plane.
“It is still a search and rescue (SAR) operation and not a disaster recovery,” he said this evening at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang.
Previously on Saturday, authorities began their search within a 20 nautical mile radius at the last known location where MH370 was tracked on radar.
However, SAR forces later expanded their search area to 50 nautical miles after failing to locate the aircraft.
After three days of search, the combined SAR forces from nine countries including the United States and Australia have failed to find any clues to the MH370's whereabouts.
Several sightings have been investigated, debris checked, but the end result was it did not originate from an aircraft.
Even an oil slick, which was spotted between Malaysia and Vietnam, was checked by SAR forces but analysis by the Chemistry Department indicated it was not from an aircraft.
An aircraft searching the South China Sea spotted a floating yellow object which some assumed to be an inverted lifeboat from the MH370.
A vessel was dispatched to retrieve it but it was found to be a moss-covered cap of a cable reel.
Azharuddin urged the media, both local and international, not to report findings which had not been verified or confirmed by the authorities.
"The search and rescue forces from nine countries are doing their best to locate MH370," he said.
"There is no point in reporting unverified news as this will only cause confusion and false hope."
He said scores of potential sightings had been checked out but, time and time again, there was no clue as to the whereabouts of MH370.
A total of 34 aircrafts and 40 vessels have been mobilised for SAR efforts.
The missing Boeing 777-200 aircraft operated by Malaysia Airlines left Kuala Lumpur International Airport for Beijing at 12.41am on Saturday.
Contact with the plane along with its radar signal was lost at 1.20am when it was flying over the Ho Chi Minh air traffic control area in Vietnam.
The aircraft was carrying 12 Malaysian flight crew and 227 passengers, including 154 Chinese and Taiwan nationals. – March 10, 2014.
