Kuala Lumpur: Investigators trying to solve the disappearance without trace of a Malaysia Airlines jetliner face an extremely rare challenge that could hinder their efforts: they lack the powers of a formal air safety investigation.
Malaysian authorities could not yet convene a formal investigation due to a lack of evidence on where - namely, in which national jurisdiction - the jet crashed.
Four days after Flight MH370 went missing in mid-air with 239 people on board, no nation has stepped forward to initiate and lead an official probe, leaving a formal leadership vacuum that industry experts say appears unprecedented.
Malaysian officials are conducting their own informal investigations, in cooperation with other governments and foreign agencies, but they lack the legal powers that would come with a formal international probe under UN-sanctioned rules.
Those powers include the legal rights to take testimony from all witnesses and other parties, the right to have exclusive control over the release of information and the ability to centralise a vast amount of fragmentary evidence.
A senior official familiar with the preliminary Malaysian probe said Malaysian authorities could not yet convene a formal investigation due to a lack of evidence on where - namely, in which national jurisdiction - the Boeing 777-200ER jet crashed.
12/03/14 Siva Govinda samy, Alwyn Scott and Tim Hepher/Sydney Morning Herald
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Malaysian authorities could not yet convene a formal investigation due to a lack of evidence on where - namely, in which national jurisdiction - the jet crashed.
Four days after Flight MH370 went missing in mid-air with 239 people on board, no nation has stepped forward to initiate and lead an official probe, leaving a formal leadership vacuum that industry experts say appears unprecedented.
Malaysian officials are conducting their own informal investigations, in cooperation with other governments and foreign agencies, but they lack the legal powers that would come with a formal international probe under UN-sanctioned rules.
Those powers include the legal rights to take testimony from all witnesses and other parties, the right to have exclusive control over the release of information and the ability to centralise a vast amount of fragmentary evidence.
A senior official familiar with the preliminary Malaysian probe said Malaysian authorities could not yet convene a formal investigation due to a lack of evidence on where - namely, in which national jurisdiction - the Boeing 777-200ER jet crashed.
12/03/14 Siva Govinda samy, Alwyn Scott and Tim Hepher/Sydney Morning Herald
