MH370

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has accused the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Boeing of hiding information relating to the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.

In his personal blog, ‘What goes up must come down’, Mohamad wrote that the disappearance of MH370 is most likely not an ordinary crash due to fuel exhaustion, and alleged that the aircraft could have been changed to autopilot mode remotely by the CIA.

He claimed that if terrorists tried to take control of the flight, the autopilot could have been activated by pilot, board sensors or remotely through satellite links by government agencies such as the CIA.

While demanding that both the aircraft maker and CIA be questioned over the missing jet, the former PM claimed it was not fair to blame Malaysia Airlines and the country for the aircraft’s disappearance.

"The plane is somewhere, maybe without MAS [Malaysia Airlines] markings," Mohamad said.

"It is a waste of time and money to look for debris or oil slick or to listen for ‘pings’ from the black box."

"The former PM claimed it was not fair to blame Malaysia Airlines and the country for the aircraft’s disappearance."

Meanwhile, Malaysia, China and Australia have agreed to review the complete data related to MH370 to get a better idea of the search area.

Beginning today, governments of the three countries will hold video conferences on weekly basis to coordinate the search.

Earlier last week, Malaysian PM Najib Razak has called for deploying real-time aircraft tracking systems and improving communication systems to prevent such incidents in future.

The Beijing-bound aircraft with 239 people on board vanished off the radar screens on 8 March only an hour after it took off from Kuala Lumpur. Subsequent Australia-led search efforts have been ongoing over an area of the southern Indian Ocean for traces of the aircraft.

Malaysia said it is planning to deploy underwater vehicles, as the authorities plan for a long-term search mission.

Image: Malaysia Airlines MH370 was carrying 239 passengers when it disappeared on 8 March. Photo: courtesy of russavia/Laurent ERRERA.

Defence Technology