From most recent press conference:
- Plane has been lost for +60 hours now.
- SAR area covers 50 nautical miles radius.
- SAR covers possible turnback area
- Various neighbouring countries are assisting to locate missing aircrafts. 34 aircraft, 40 ships, +100 men, +1000 man hours have been deployed. Countries: Vietnam, China, Singapore, Indonesia, USA, Thailand, Australia and the Phillipines
air search daily 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., ship search continues through the night.
Nothing has been found that appears to be debris from the aircraft, let alone the aircraft
- Various reports of sighting of objects in the media. Vietnamese authorities have reported locating a piece of the aircraft - a door - but that report has not been verified officially by Vietnamese authorities today.
- SAR has spotted two areas where the aircraft's tail might be, but it turns out these sightings turn up not being pieces of the aircraft's tail.
- Oilslick samples have been sent to labs. Malaysia Air is hoping they can report the slicks some from the missing aircraft.
- "For the aircraft to just go missing just like that, from the radar blip, there are many theories that have been said in media, there are many experts around the world that have contributed knowledge about what could have happened. and as far as we are concerned, we are equally puzzled. the honourable prime minister used the word 'perplexing'. we are equally puzzled. to confirm what happened on this aircraft, we need concrete evidence, pieces of the aircraft, to do forensic study. unfortunately again, we are unable to secure any parts of the aircraft to date."
- cannot discount any possibilities, including possibility of turnback
- it is being described as an "unprecedented missing aircraft mystery"
- "we have to find the aircraft. we have to find pieces of the aircraft. this is something we have to do."
- authorities are investigating the case of two passengers on the aircraft with fraudulent passport. authorities going through all CCTV, all records.
there are issues with 5 passengers who did not fly on the aircraft. malaysian air reiderates baggage from these 5 passengers were removed.
- hostage situation remains a possibility, "looking at all angles, considering every possibility"
- "we understand you want answers from us, you want details, we are equally eager as you are to find details and parts of the aircraft and we hope you will be patient and our boys in the rescue control centre on the ships now are trying their best to locate whatever they can find in the areas that we have identified and maybe those beyond that. we are every hour, every minute, every second, looking at every inch of the sea"
Q&A tagged for length:
Spoiler!
Question: is there a possible explosion?
Answer: we are looking at every possibility.
Question: If a plane disappears, there will be a black box signal. are you detecting a black box signal?
Answer: No signal has been signal. If we had one we would tell you.
Question: Does the signal go off on it's own?
Answer: Yes
Question: will you double check areas that have already been covered?
Answer: Yes we will check, we will comb all the areas.
Q: What jurisdiction are the 2 passengers investigation?
A: Will not give you any information about the 2 passengers because it might impair the investigation.
Q: have the tech assistance teams from NTSB, Boeing, FAA, arrived?
A: The offer we got from these orgs, are here as of this morning. we will meet them as soon as possible to see how they can offer assistance. The French investigators have not arrived yet, although they offered help.
Q: Are you investigating any terrorist groups?
A: We have no information about this.
Q: will you issue the photos of the two passengers who stole passports so media can help?
A: We have to talk to the investigators about this.
Q: Who are the 5 people who did not fly in the flight and has their baggage been checked?
A: All baggage has been checked in accordance to strict protocols. All check in baggage is clean. No items that aren't supposed to be on board.
Q. How many Chinese family members will come?
A. We have made an offer to every passenger to have 2 next of kin to be flown immediately, and offer for each passenger for a total of 5 next of kin to be flown later.
Q. 2 passengers with stolen passengers have asian features. so, why wasn't any suspicion raised about asian passengers having european passports?
A. this is under the jurisdiction of the security officials.
Q. Is there a security problem at KL airport?
A. we have to get the report from the investigating team. what security being deployed now in KLA meets the requirements of the International Aviation Organization. There is an international security program we must comply with. We have done our audits on KLA. we have been audited by transport security admins from USA and Australia.
Q. Was there a delay in the official investigation of the plane disappearance?
A. we reacted properly. this is not an easy exercise. it's a big area to cover. we all have to work together to find the aircraft.
Q. is there any timeframe?
A. there is no timeframe. and if you read what happens to the airbus airfrance, it take as much as 2 years to locate the aircraft. it takes as long as it takes.
Q. how have you increased security at KLA?
A. don't want to comment. KLA complies to int'l standards.