New Straits Times.....
Malaysia Chronicle.....
26 April 2014| last updated at 02:04PM
MH370 Tragedy: Indian Ocean undersea hunt to be extended
PERTH: The undersea search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 is to be extended beyond the small area identified as its most likely resting place as the quest for any sign of the missing plane enters its 50th day today.
The submarine drone Bluefin 21 has so far searched about 95 percent of a 10 square km (6.2 square mile) area of the Indian Ocean seabed, pinpointed after the detection of acoustic pings believed to be from the plane's black box flight recorders.
Bluefin 21 had to abort the search on Friday and resurface due to a software malfunction. Technicians fixed the drone overnight and its 14th, 16 hour trip to the sea floor at depths of more than 4.5 km (2.8 miles) was underway today.
"If no contacts of interest are made, Bluefin-21 will continue to examine the areas adjacent to the 10km radius," Australia's Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) in in charge of the search said in a statement.
Flight MH370 disappeared without a trace on March 8 flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.
The search for MH370 is the longest and most expensive in aviation history, with ships and aircraft from some two dozen nations taking part. The air and sea search continued on today with up to 8 military aircraft and 11 ships.
A U.S. defence official told Reuters on Friday that the sea search is likely to drag on for years as it enters the much more difficult phase of scouring broader areas of the ocean near where the plane is believed to have crashed.
Speaking under condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to comment on the search effort, the official said Malaysia would have to decide how to proceed with the search, including whether to bring in more underwater drones.
The Australian and Malaysian governments are under pressure to show what lengths they are prepared to go to in order to give closure to the grieving families of those on board flight MH370.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak told CNN on Thursday the government would make public a preliminary report into the plane's disappearance next week.--REUTERS
Malaysia Chronicle.....
Saturday, 26 April 2014 06:14
STANDOFF IN BEIJING! Ten MAS staff 'HELD' against their will by MH370 relatives
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KUALA LUMPUR - Ten Malaysia Airlines staff were held against their will for hours by Chinese relatives of flight MH370 passengers, the airline said on Friday, at a Beijing hotel that has seen increasingly tense confrontations over the missing plane.
The airline employees were "barred from leaving" a ballroom for more than 10 hours on Thursday, and another staff member was kicked in the leg in a confrontation two days earlier, the airline said.
Tempers have repeatedly flared at the Lido Hotel, where Chinese relatives have been put up by the airline since the plane vanished, increasingly lashing out in briefings as Malaysian officials and the flag carrier have been unable to explain the plane's disappearance.
"Malaysia Airlines confirms that its staff were held at the Lido Hotel ballroom in Beijing by the family members of MH370 as the families expressed dissatisfaction in obtaining details of the missing aircraft on 24 April 2014 at 3 pm," it said in a statement released in Kuala Lumpur.
The more than 200 family members were incensed when a Malaysian government official did not come to brief them on Thursday, and the meeting descended into chaos as relatives angrily confronted airline staff.
An airline spokesman told AFP "the main MAS officials were barred from leaving the ballroom" as about 60 family members left for the Malaysian Embassy to demand information from government officials.
"The group finally released the staff at 1.44am, 25 April 2014," the airline's statement said.
The relatives who went to the embassy remained there in an overnight protest, two participants said on Friday.
The carrier also said a Malaysia Airlines security supervisor was "kicked in the left knee" by an "aggressive" Chinese family member at the hotel on Tuesday.
The airline said it had filed a police report on the incident.
About two-thirds of the 239 passengers aboard the missing plane came from China.
Chinese relatives have for weeks complained bitterly about what they call Malaysia's secretive and incompetent handling of the search for the plane, which vanished on March 8.
It disappeared from radar on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing and is believed to have crashed far out in the Indian Ocean.
A multi-national search, however, has failed to find any evidence despite weeks of looking.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said on Friday that his country urges Malaysia to "take seriously" the families' grievances, while urging families to behave in a "rational way".
Dozens of relatives staged a noisy protest last month at the embassy -- apparently sanctioned by Chinese authorities, who cleared streets for their approach -- decrying Malaysian authorities and the national airline as "murderers".
- AFP
Saturday, 26 April 2014 09:15
MH370: M'sian govt does U-turn over releasing report into jet's disappearance
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The Malaysian government was forced to perform an abrupt u-turn yesterday after earlier insisting it would not release its report into missing flight MH370.
Families of the 239 missing people on board the Malaysia Airlines flight reacted with fury after officials said the contents of the preliminary report into the mystery would not be released.
But Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said last night that the report could in fact be made public as early as next week.
He said: “I have directed an internal investigation team of experts to look at the report, and there is a likelihood that next week we could release the report.”
The report has been sent to the International Civil Aviation Organisation - the United Nations body for global aviation.
It is understood to contain a recommendation that commercial aircraft need to be tracked by air traffic controllers in real time.
Such reports are usually published because they are simply a statement of facts rather than containing anything controversial.
Sarah Bajc, partner of missing passenger Philip Wood, accused Malaysian authorities of treating relatives of the missing as an enemy before the government’s change of heart was revealed.
She said: “They seem to be choosing to treat us as if we are the enemy as opposed to an interested party in helping to solve this mystery.
“We need a fresh start here. We’ve been sitting on opposite sides of the table.
“They have a briefing, they tell us what they know and we ask them questions.
-mirror.co.uk
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