Speaking at a press conference on March 16, Malaysia's Transportation Minister Hishamuddin Hussein said in the last 24 hours, the Malaysian Prime Minister had talked over the phone with the Prime Ministers of Bangladesh and India, as well as the Presidents of Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan on coordination in the hunt for the jetliner.
The same day, the Malaysian foreign ministry also had a press briefing with 22 countries in the north and southern corridors such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, China, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia and France.
All the countries showed their willingness to give Malaysia a hand in the search, according to the minister.
Malaysia also asked countries with satellites such as US, China, and France, among others, to provide data, radar playback, possibilities of ground and sea search as well as vehicles serving both sea and air search, he said.
According to Hussein, Malaysian authorities are discussing with all involving countries to seek best way to deploy search assets along the northern corridor (stretching from the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to northern Thailand) and the southern corridor (from Indonesia to southern Indian Ocean).
The official said that the Malaysian Government also is contacting additional countries who are willing to contribute necessary assets to the search campaign, especially in the southern search corridor.
Meanwhile, Malaysian police have investigated all MH 370 flight’s crewmembers and passengers, ground technicians and aviation management staff as well as all people contacting with the flight before it took off on March 8, said Hussein.
He also revealed that the police also search the homes of the captain and co-pilot of the lost plane with 239 people on board.
According to representatives from the Malaysian Airlines, both did not request to join the flight together.-VNA
