 "Malaysia appeals to 25 nations as search widens")
As the search for a Boeing aircraft carrying 239 people risks becoming the longest hunt in modern civil aviation, Malaysia broadened its appeal for international help as the area being combed through grows larger every day.
Authorities asked 25 countries to support the mission, with no trace of the 777-200 wide-body after more of a week of continuous search that now stretches from Kazakhstan in the north to the two-mile deep waters off Australia in the south.
While the past week brought no breakthrough in the recovery of plane, authorities established that the airliner flew for almost seven hours after last making contact with air traffic controllers on March 8. That has reinforced closer scrutiny of the crew. Police searched the homes of the pilot and co-pilot on Saturday to help answer why the jet was deliberately flown off its course, in a race against time as the trail of isolated signals caught during the stray journey risks going cold.
Expanded search
The search area has been "significantly" expanded and the nature of the search has changed, Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.
"From focusing mainly on shallow seas, we are now looking at large tracts of land, crossing 11 countries, as well as deep, remote oceans," he said.
Malaysian investigators are treating both the northern and southern search zones with equal importance, though US investigators are growing more convinced that the Malaysian Airline System jetliner's most likely last-known position was in the zone about 1,000 miles (1,609 km) west of Perth, said two people in the US government who are familiar with the readings. Najib was told that is the most promising lead on locating the jet, one of them said.
Satellite transmissions that weren't turned off along with other communications systems showed Malaysian Airline Flight 370 operated, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Saturday. That may have taken the Boeing 777-200 more than 3,000 miles from where it was last tracked west of Malaysia and pushed it to the limits of its fuel load if it was airborne the whole period.
Radar arc
It is possible that the radars could have picked up a signal from the plane while it was on the ground as long as the electricity was on, said Civil Aviation Chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman. Malaysia has not received any contact from any groups making demands over the plane, he said. The new satellite transmission data indicated the plane was last spotted in an arc of radar that reached as far as Kazakhstan in the north to a spot in the Indian Ocean off Australia in the south. Malaysia is now enlisting the help of 25 nations, up from 14 in the initial operation, Hishammuddin said.
Authorities asked 25 countries to support the mission, with no trace of the 777-200 wide-body after more of a week of continuous search that now stretches from Kazakhstan in the north to the two-mile deep waters off Australia in the south.
While the past week brought no breakthrough in the recovery of plane, authorities established that the airliner flew for almost seven hours after last making contact with air traffic controllers on March 8. That has reinforced closer scrutiny of the crew. Police searched the homes of the pilot and co-pilot on Saturday to help answer why the jet was deliberately flown off its course, in a race against time as the trail of isolated signals caught during the stray journey risks going cold.
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"If it's gone off into the Indian Ocean somewhere, there's a good chance you'll never find it," said Paul Hayes, director of aviation security in London at Ascend Worldwide, which collects and analyses aviation data. "It's the first aircraft that's ever disappeared like this with no suggestion of a motive, with nobody claiming responsibility. With other hijacked aircraft, you knew they were hijacked."
Expanded search
The search area has been "significantly" expanded and the nature of the search has changed, Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.
"From focusing mainly on shallow seas, we are now looking at large tracts of land, crossing 11 countries, as well as deep, remote oceans," he said.
Malaysian investigators are treating both the northern and southern search zones with equal importance, though US investigators are growing more convinced that the Malaysian Airline System jetliner's most likely last-known position was in the zone about 1,000 miles (1,609 km) west of Perth, said two people in the US government who are familiar with the readings. Najib was told that is the most promising lead on locating the jet, one of them said.
Satellite transmissions that weren't turned off along with other communications systems showed Malaysian Airline Flight 370 operated, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Saturday. That may have taken the Boeing 777-200 more than 3,000 miles from where it was last tracked west of Malaysia and pushed it to the limits of its fuel load if it was airborne the whole period.
Radar arc
It is possible that the radars could have picked up a signal from the plane while it was on the ground as long as the electricity was on, said Civil Aviation Chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman. Malaysia has not received any contact from any groups making demands over the plane, he said. The new satellite transmission data indicated the plane was last spotted in an arc of radar that reached as far as Kazakhstan in the north to a spot in the Indian Ocean off Australia in the south. Malaysia is now enlisting the help of 25 nations, up from 14 in the initial operation, Hishammuddin said.