Sepang, March 21- Malaysia Airlines (MAS) is prepared to fly to Australia the families of passengers and crew of its missing flight if the two objects captured on satellite imagery in the southern Indian Ocean are confirmed to be from the lost aircraft.
MAS chief executive officer Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said the families of the 239 passengers and crew were always the top priority for the airline.
“We do take care of the next-of-kin (of passengers on board) and, assuming that it is confirmed the aircraft is located somewhere close to Australia, we will obviously make an arrangement to fly the next-of-kin there,” he said.
He spoke at the daily media briefing on the latest developments regarding the search for the aircraft, which was also attended by acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein, Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman and Department of Civil Aviation director-general Datuk Azharuddin Abdul Rahman.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said in Canberra today that satellite imagery had shown two objects that could be related to the Malaysian airliner that disappeared on March 8.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said in Canberra today that satellite imagery had shown two objects that could be related to the Malaysian airliner that disappeared on March 8.
Ahmad Jauhari said MAS was committed to providing the families with accurate and up-to-date information, up to two or three times daily.
Meanwhile, Hishammuddin gave the assurance that the families would be the first to be notified if there was any confirmation on the satellite images or any latest development in the SAR operation, which entered its 13th day today.
“The credible breaking news today is regarding the satellite images; I think that would be in the minds of the families. “I think that would be the first thing that we will update the families when information comes in,” he said, adding that his deep sympathies had always been with the families.
He noted that it was not an easy task to deal with the distraught families, and the authorities were now learning from the experience of the French Aviation Safety Agency (BEA) on how to cope with the situation.
“It is very difficult (to deal with the families). I spoke to the French teams which had to deal with the families of the passengers of Air France 447 for two years after the crash (2009),” he said.
The BEA team arrived on Monday to assist the Malaysia-led international investigating team in the search for the missing aircraft, with their focus on undersea search.
In 2009, the BEA team was involved with the Air France 447 crash that killed all 228 people aboard, and the blackbox of the unfortunate plane was only found two years after the tragedy.
Hishammuddin also said that giving accurate and up-to-date information to the families was also their main concern, which prompted the deployment of a high-level team to Beijing this evening.
“The representatives from the Malaysian government already spoke to the families, led by the Prime Minister’s special envoy to China (Tan Sri Ong Ka Ting).
“Officials from the China embassy also help by leading the briefing for the Chinese families who are here in Kuala Lumpur,” he said.
The Beijing-bound Boeing 777-200ER aircraft, with 227 passengers and 12 crew on board, disappeared about an hour after leaving the KL International Airport at 12.41 am on March 8. It was scheduled to arrive in Beijing at 6.30 am on the same day.
A search was mounted for the aircraft in the South China Sea but the area of the search was extended to cover a large tract west of Malaysia, including the Indian Ocean, when it was learned that the plane had veered off course after someone deliberately switched off the communication system on board, and the plane had flown for seven hours after that.
The search then focused on two corridors, namely the northern corridor which stretches from the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to northern Thailand, and the southern corridor which stretches from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean.
– Bernama
