The search for the plane now encompasses both sides of peninsular Malaysia, over an area of nearly 27,000 nautical miles (more than 90,000 square kilometres) — roughly the size of Portugal — and involves the navies and air forces of multiple nations.
Theories about the possible cause of the disappearance range from a catastrophic technical failure to a mid-air explosion, hijacking, rogue missile strike and even pilot suicide.
Beijing will keep up the search “as long as there is a glimmer of hope”, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said.
The passengers included 153 Chinese citizens, and Li told his once-a-year news conference: “Those people’s families and friends are burning with anxiety.”
– Pursuing all ‘concrete clues’ –
The satellite information prompted the focus of the search to swing back Thursday to the original flight path, after a shift in recent days to Malaysia’s west coast — far from the last known location.
“We will look at all areas especially the ones with concrete clues,” a spokesman for Malaysia’s civil aviation department said.
The China Centre for Resources Satellite Data and Application said in a statement on its website earlier this week that it had deployed eight land observation satellites to scour the suspected crash area.
By Tuesday morning, it had obtained images covering 120,000 square kilometres, describing their quality as “rather good”.
China has also requested assistance from a fleet of Earth-monitoring satellites under an international charter designed to aid emergency efforts.
US authorities said their spy satellites had detected no sign of a mid-air explosion.
Malaysian police said Thursday they were investigating the two pilots, after an Australian television report of a past cockpit security breach, although the transport minister denied that their homes had been raided.
Malaysia Airlines has said it was “shocked” over allegations that First Officer Fariq Abdul Hamid, 27, along with a fellow pilot, violated airline rules in 2011 by allowing two young South African women into their cockpit during a flight.
It also emerged that months before the Malaysia Airlines jet vanished, US regulators had warned of a “cracking and corrosion” problem on Boeing 777s beneath their satellite antenna that could lead to a drastic drop in cabin pressure and possible mid-air break-up.
But Gerry Soejatman, a Jakarta-based independent aviation analyst, said the warning did not apply to the missing aircraft, a Boeing 777-200ER, which has a different kind of antenna.
“When an aircraft simply disappears from radar with no trace whatsoever, normally it means a rapid deterioration of the aircraft — an explosion or structural failure that’s very rapid,” he added.
“That means the wreckage would be found near where it was last reported. But in this case, this doesn’t seem to be the case.”
On Thursday, Malaysia Airlines said it would retire the flight codes MH370 and MH371 — the return flight from Beijing to Kuala Lumpur — as a mark of respect.
