人民网
Mon,Mar 10,2014
English>>World

Editor's Pick

Locating missing jet current priority: Malaysian aviation chief

(Xinhua)    07:41, March 10, 2014
Email|Print|Comments       twitter     facebook     Sina Microblog     reddit    

Director General of Malaysian Department of Civil Aviation Azharuddin Abdul Rahman told a press conference Sunday evening that now the priority is to search and locate the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

A total of 34 aircraft and 40 ships are now in the searching operation as the search area has been extended from the South China Sea to the Strait of Malacca, he said.

Regarding the earlier found oil slick strip off Malaysian coast, Rahman said that chemical test was being done on the oil slick to confirm whether it came from the missing aircraft.

He said the investigation was underway into a possible terror link after authorities said at least two passengers had boarded the plane using stolen passports. But he declined to give more details.

He told Xinhua that the video of the suspected passengers with false passport was being examined now by the investigators.

When asked about a Singapore searching team spotting a suspicious floating object near Vietnam's Tho Chu island, he said it was not from the ill-fated plane.

The Boeing 777-200 aircraft operated by Malaysia Airlines left Kuala Lumpur International Airport for Beijing at 00:41 a.m. Saturday, and lost contact with Subang Air Traffic Control at around 1:30 a.m. Saturday.

The aircraft was carrying 12 crew members and 227 passengers including 154 Chinese.

There has been no confirmed information about the fate of the plane yet.

(Editor:GaoYinan、Yao Chun)

Related reading

Full coverage

We Recommend

Most Viewed

Day|Week|Month

Key Words

Links