Kuala Lumpur: Investigations into the mystery of a missing Malaysian jet appeared to be at a deadlock on Wednesday, with no conclusive evidence of foul play and doubts whether nations would share military tracking data that could show where the plane may have headed.
Eleven days have passed since Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 went missing, and 26 nations are struggling to search for the airliner over an area more than two-thirds the size of the continental United States.
Malaysian and U.S. officials believe the aircraft was deliberately diverted but an exhaustive background search of the 239 passengers and crew aboard has not yielded any possible motive or link to terrorism.
Malaysia's top official in charge of the unprecedented operation said it was vital to reduce the scale of the search and renewed appeals for sensitive military data from its neighbors that Malaysia believes may shed light on where the airliner flew.
"All the efforts must be used to actually narrow the corridors that we have announced - I think that is the best approach to do it. Otherwise we are in the realm of speculation again," Malaysia's Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told reporters late on Tuesday.
The U.S. Navy said it had switched mainly to using P-8A Poseidon and P-3 Orion aircraft to search for the missing plane instead of ships and helicopters.
"The maritime patrol aircraft are much more suited for this type of operation since the search field is growing," said Navy Lieutenant David Levy, who is on board the USS Blue Ridge, the U.S. Navy ship that is coordinating the search effort.
"It's just a much more efficient way to search," he said
19/03/14 Anshuman Daga and Tim Hepher/Reuters
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Eleven days have passed since Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 went missing, and 26 nations are struggling to search for the airliner over an area more than two-thirds the size of the continental United States.
Malaysian and U.S. officials believe the aircraft was deliberately diverted but an exhaustive background search of the 239 passengers and crew aboard has not yielded any possible motive or link to terrorism.
Malaysia's top official in charge of the unprecedented operation said it was vital to reduce the scale of the search and renewed appeals for sensitive military data from its neighbors that Malaysia believes may shed light on where the airliner flew.
"All the efforts must be used to actually narrow the corridors that we have announced - I think that is the best approach to do it. Otherwise we are in the realm of speculation again," Malaysia's Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told reporters late on Tuesday.
The U.S. Navy said it had switched mainly to using P-8A Poseidon and P-3 Orion aircraft to search for the missing plane instead of ships and helicopters.
"The maritime patrol aircraft are much more suited for this type of operation since the search field is growing," said Navy Lieutenant David Levy, who is on board the USS Blue Ridge, the U.S. Navy ship that is coordinating the search effort.
"It's just a much more efficient way to search," he said
19/03/14 Anshuman Daga and Tim Hepher/Reuters
