Lost flight MH370: Malaysia seeks assistance from 25 countries including Pakistan
Foreign Office maintains Pakistani radars haven’t picked up any clues that could potentially help.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 remains missing as the search and rescue personnel of as many as 11 countries searched for the sign of the ill-fated flight for the ninth day on Sunday. Malaysian authorities have formally contacted 25 countries including Pakistan for assistance as the search operation widens, Dunya News reported.
According to reports, Malaysia has contacted Pakistan, Uzbekistan, India, Bangladesh, China, Australia and France among other countries for radar-data assistance. United States and United Kingdom are already on board the massive and unprecedented search mission.
Dismissing the speculations about naming Pakistan, foreign office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said that Malaysia has contacted several other countries and not just Pakistan. She said that Malaysia has requested access to radar and satellite data of Pakistani airspace hoping for the potential clues. She maintained that Pakistani radars haven’t picked up any clues that could potentially help locate the whereabouts of the ill-fated aircraft carrying 239 passengers.
It merits mentioning here that as many as 25 countries are now involved in search mission of the missing flight.
"The number of countries involved in the search and rescue operation has increased from 14 to 25, which brings new challenges of coordination and diplomacy to the search effort," said Hishammuddin Hussein, Malaysia’s defence and transport minister.
Malaysia had said Saturday that satellite data showed Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 could have flown anywhere from Kazakhstan to the southern Indian Ocean after disappearing from civilian radar on March 8.
Hishammuddin told a press conference that Malaysia, which is coordinating the hunt, had briefed representatives from at least 22 countries today and requested their help in a search that has become increasingly daunting.
This includes potentially sensitive military and satellite data from the likes of the United States, China and France.
Asked if any search for an aircraft in such a vast area could be effective, Hishammuddin acknowledged the size of the task.
"It is our hope that parties that can be of assistance to us can come forward and help us to narrow the search to an area that is much more feasible," he said.
Malaysian police also said it was seeking background checks on all passengers from foreign counterparts and intelligence agencies as it ramps up investigations into who may have deliberately diverted the Boeing 777 from its original course to Beijing.
Police on Saturday searched the homes of both pilots and seized Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah’s self-assembled flight simulator.
