19 Mar 2014 9:26 pm MYT
Here’s a summary of the latest developments today:
- The Malaysian government has ordered an inquiry after scuffles between police officers and relatives of the missing passengers overshadowed today’s press briefing on the continuing search operation. Malaysia’s acting transport minister Hishammuddin Hussein said he understood the frustration of relatives and regretted the chaotic scenes.
- At least two Chinese relatives were thrown out of the press conference in Kuala Lumpur when they tried to protest at the lack of information being released by Malaysia. The police also prevented journalists from talking to the relatives after they voiced their frustrations.
- Malaysia Airlines promised more support and information updates to relatives. It pledged to send out text messages and operate a support centre for the families around the clock. Malaysia is also sending a high-level delegation to Beijing to liaise with relatives of those missing on the Beijing-bound flight.
The authorities in the Maldives have dismissed reports of a possible sighting of the plane over the islands. The Maldives government told the Malaysian authorities the reports were “not true”.
- Investigators are trying to recover deleted files on the home-made flight simulator recovered from the home of the pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah. But the authorities have stressed that the passengers and crew on the flight are innocent unless proven others, and urged the media to avoid “unnecessary speculation”. The files were deleted on 3 February.
- Malaysia has again appealed to other countries to volunteer more satellite and radar data about the fight, after Thailand released radar data 11 days after the flight disappeared. The Thai radar data backs up Malaysia conviction that the plane took a deliberate westerly turn.
- Other countries are taking a lead role in the search operation over their territories. No major breakthrough has been reported in narrowing the search area from the two long flight corridors currently being examined.
- Investigators examining the plane’s disappearance believe it flew into the southern Indian Ocean, a source told Reuters.“The working assumption is that it went south, and furthermore that it went to the southern end of that corridor,” said the source, referring to a search area stretching from west of Indonesia to the Indian Ocean west of Australia. But Hishammuddin insisted that both the northern and southern flight corridors were of equal interest to the investigators.
Source: The Guardian
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