Kuala Lumpur yesterday rejected claims that telephone calls were made from missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 before it vanished, but refused to rule out any possibility in a so far fruitless investigation over the cause of the jet’s disappearance.
Quoting an anonymous source, the New Straits Times on Saturday reported that copilot Fariq Abdul Hamid made a call that ended abruptly, possibly “because the aircraft was fast moving away from the [telecommunications] tower.”
There had also been unconfirmed reports of calls by captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah before or during the flight.
Photo: EPA
Acting Malaysian Minister of Transport Hishammuddin Hussein told reporters yesterday that authorities had no knowledge of any calls made from the jet’s cockpit.
“As far as I know, no,” he said when asked if any calls had been made.
However, Hishammuddin, who is also minister of defense, added that he did not want to speculate on “the realm of the police and other international agencies” investigating the case.
“I do not want to disrupt the investigations that are being done now not only by the Malaysian police but the FBI, MI6, Chinese intelligence and other intelligence agencies,” he said at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur.
Hishammuddin also said that no passenger on the plane had been cleared in the criminal investigation into the fate of the flight, clarifying an earlier indication from Malaysia’s police chief.
“The Inspector-General of Police said at that particular point in time there is nothing to find suspicion with the passenger manifesto but ... unless we find more information, specifically the data in the black box, I don’t think any chief of police will be in a position to say they have been cleared,” the minister said.
The police chief has clarified that passengers had not categorically been cleared since the investigation is ongoing.
Fariq and Zaharie have come under intense scrutiny since the plane vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board on March 8, and there is still no clue as to the cause of the disappearance.
Investigators last month indicated that the flight was deliberately diverted and its communication systems manually switched off as it was leaving Malaysian airspace, triggering a criminal investigation by police which has revealed little so far.
A number of theories have been put forward, including hijacking, a terrorist plot or a pilot gone rogue, with authorities grasping at straws as to the fate of the plane without crucial data from the jet’s “black box” and no wreckage found.
Several sonic “pings” which authorities have said are consistent with airplane data recorders have been detected by ships in the search area in the Indian Ocean, off the west coast of Australia.
However, Australia’s Joint Agency Coordination Centre, which is leading the search, yesterday said that another 24 hours had passed without a confirmed signal.
No new pings have been heard since Tuesday last week and the batteries powering the locator beacons on the recorders may already be dead, since they only last about a month and that window has passed. Once officials are confident no more sounds will be heard, a robotic submersible will be sent down.
Despite having no new pings to go on, crews were yesterday continuing their search for debris and any sounds that could still be emanating.
There were 12 aircraft and 14 ships combing a 57,506km2region of the Indian Ocean 2,200km northwest of Perth, Australia, yesterday, including Australian Defence Vessel Ocean Shield, which is using a US Navy-towed pinger locator to try and pick up the signals.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was