Malaysia Airlines pierde contacto con un avión

AT KLIA 18th March 2014 @ 5:30PM

1. DS Hishammuddin begins the press conference by stating that Malaysia’s international partners are taking a bigger role in the search. “We have contacted every relevant country that has satellite data” he said.

2. China & Kazakhstan are working hand in hand in the search at the Northern Corridor.

3. The Southern corridor has been divided into 7 squadrons – it is 2.24 million square nautical miles in total. Each squadron covers 400nm x 400nm (160,000 square nautical miles). Australia & Indonesia have agreed to take lead of their respective parts.

4. DS Hishammuddin tries to clarify when the plane’s ACAR system was switched off. He repeats that the switch off occurred between 1.07AM and 1.37AM (approximately when the aircraft reached East Coast of Peninsular Msia and last ACARS transmission occurred). "The exact timing of the switch off does not effect the search effort" he said.

5. DS Hishammuddin was unable to disclose who has the satellite capability but can confirm that the authorities have contacted every relevant country that has access to relevant data.

6. Malaysia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Anifah bin Haji Aman, told reporters that the search was “beyond politics”. He added “all efforts should focus on finding the plane” and thanked Malaysia’s international partners for their help. " It is a complex issue that covers a wide area. We appreciate cooperation and countries that offered assistance."

7. DS Hishammuddin noted that there is no new development from the data previously provided by Indonesia. "I have requested Indonesia to re look at their data again, in light of the emphasis on Northern and Southern corridor" said DS Hishammuddin.

8. The Royal Malaysian Navy deployed 2 more ships to southern corridor including SuperLynx helicopters which is able to operate from either ship. The total number of Malaysian ships in southern corridor to 4 with the inclusion of the 2 SuperLynx helicopters. Today, Malaysia also deployed 2 C130 aircrafts to the Indonesian sector of the southern search corridor.

9. Some of the other countries contributed to the following:

US has deployed 1 P8 Poseidon, and will redeploy a P3 Orion aircraft.
Australia, as mentioned yesterday, has deployed 3 P3 Orions and 1 C130 Hercules.
New Zealand is redeploying a P3 Orion to support Australian search efforts.
Republic of Korea has committed 1 P3 Orion & 1 C130 Hercules.
Japan has committed 2 P3 Orions, 2 C130s and 1 Gulfstream Jet.
UAE has committed 1 C17 aircraft & 1 Bombardier Dash-8 aircraft.
Assets from Korea, Japan & UAE are currently in Malaysia awaiting orders from their respective governments.

10. Hishamuddin insisted that Malaysia is the only country that has publicly released all the satellite and radar data about flight MH370. He confirmed that other countries had shared such data with Malaysia but declined to name which ones.

11. The authorities will continue to provide operational updates, including further info about asset deployment, as soon as they are made available