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Malaysian authorities blamed for letting 'missing' MH370 'disappear'

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ANI Johannesburg
Last Updated : May 20 2014 | 12:10 PM IST

Malaysia's military and various other authorities are reportedly being accused of letting MH370 disappear, according to new claims.

Malaysian defence minister Hishammuddin Hussein said that Malaysia's civil aviation authorities called the military asking them to keep an eye on the plane but that the military allowed the plane to glide out to sea, News.com.au reports.

The now missing Malaysia Airline jet reportedly flew directly over Malaysian military air base located on the island of Penang but no action was taken following its appearance there.

Because the plane was not perceived to be a threat, the military did not send any planes up to investigate.

Meanwhile, Malaysia's opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said that the military had breached the standing operation procedures.

He said in case of such a situation, the air force is alerted, after which, it then sends a plane to that area to either guide the plane to land or to leave the Malaysian airspace, adding that this is the standard operating procedure and this was never done.

It also revealed that a team of up to five officers could or should have been on duty at the nearby radar operations centre at Butterworth air base looking for unidentified aircraft, the report said.

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First Published: May 20 2014 | 11:51 AM IST

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