The issue with if it was a bomb was there would be remains. If a plane were to explode in the air, it more than likely would not vanish. Luggage would fall out, pieces would float in the ocean's currents.

This plane literally disappeared without a trace.

My thoughts exactly. You can't just have a plane evaporate into the air. That doesn't make sense.

Edited March 10, 201412 yr by Mustu

i can call anyone's thoughts stupid thats the power of freedom of speech. Im not trying to be a bully and if you think i am you should't be on the internet

 

I think its funny that you cant tell hes being sarcastic. Let me sum some things up since i have quite a few brain cells about aviation. This Airplane crashed, plain and simple, i wish we could've said it didn't but a plane doesn't just disappear. Understand that if this plane actually did land someplace its not like there ATC is going to be like "hey look at that big ass 777 landing on our runway, i think we'll ignore it" NO. Even if it did stay up in the sky there's hundreds of ATC towers in that area that would've spotted it. Anyways whatever happened, it happened fast!

I think its funny that you cant tell hes being sarcastic. Let me sum some things up since i have quite a few brain cells about aviation. This Airplane crashed, plain and simple, i wish we could've said it didn't but a plane doesn't just disappear. Understand that if this plane actually did land someplace its not like there ATC is going to be like "hey look at that big ass 777 landing on our runway, i think we'll ignore it" NO. Even if it did stay up in the sky there's hundreds of ATC towers in that area that would've spotted it. Anyways whatever happened, it happened fast!

 

Yay someone finally gets it! honestly though I think they are shooting "Lost the Second Landing"

 

I think its funny that you cant tell hes being sarcastic. Let me sum some things up since i have quite a few brain cells about aviation. This Airplane crashed, plain and simple, i wish we could've said it didn't but a plane doesn't just disappear. Understand that if this plane actually did land someplace its not like there ATC is going to be like "hey look at that big ass 777 landing on our runway, i think we'll ignore it" NO. Even if it did stay up in the sky there's hundreds of ATC towers in that area that would've spotted it. Anyways whatever happened, it happened fast!

Its kind of hard to tell when someone is being sarcastic through the internet :p but whatever 

Poe's law at work: unless you explicitly say you're joking, no position you can express is so extreme that it couldn't be confused for a legitimate belief.

On-topic: The issue with tailoring terrorism based on where has low security is that terrorism is inherently political - what purpose is served by blowing up a Malaysian plane? Is there a group angry at and fighting the Malaysian government?

UPDATE:

NEW YORK: Boeing said on Monday it has joined an official US team investigating the still-mysterious disappearance of a Malaysia Airlines 777 aircraft, feared to have plunged into the Gulf of Thailand.

Boeing said it would act as technical adviser to the US National Transportation Safety Board team already in Southeast Asia to offer assistance.

The Malaysia Airlines plane that went missing on Saturday on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing was a Boeing 777, a model which up to now has seen only one fatal crash.

The popular family of long-range, wide-body, twin-engine planes have a solid safety record and have been among the world's most widely flown passenger jets since first entering service in 1995.

In the sole fatal crash involving the planes, a Boeing 777-200 operated by South Korea's Asiana Airlines skidded off the runway upon landing at San Francisco's international airport in July 2013, with three dead as a result.

The Malaysia Airlines flight that lost contact with authorities on Saturday was a Boeing 777-200, with 239 people aboard.

Boeing said in a statement that it "continues to offer its thoughts and deepest concern to the families of those aboard Malaysia Airlines flight 370, which went missing on March 8."

- AFP/rw

BEIJING: Beijing is deploying as many as 10 satellites in hopes of tracking down Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, state media reported on Tuesday, as the search for the vanished aircraft entered its fourth day.

The high-resolution satellites, which are controlled from the Xian Satellite Control Centre in northern China, will be used for navigation, weather monitoring, communications and other aspects of the search-and-rescue effort, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Daily said.

Nearly two-thirds of the 239 people aboard flight MH370 were from China, and if the loss of the aircraft is confirmed, it would be China's second-worst ever air disaster.

Crews from nine countries have joined the international search effort, including China, Malaysia, the United States, Singapore, Vietnam, New Zealand, Indonesia, Australia and Thailand.

- AFP/nd

I have been following this unfortunate event for the past few days. Its very sad. People on board also include:-

Indians: 4

 

Recent Developments (Source: The Times of India)

 

Malaysia jet 'turned back and flew some distance into Malacca Strait'

 

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's military believes the jetliner missing for almost four days turned and flew hundreds of kilometres to the west after it last made contact with civilian air traffic control off the country's east coast, a senior officer told Reuters on Tuesday. In one of the most baffling mysteries in recent aviation history, a massive search operation for the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER has so far found no trace of the aircraft or the 239 passengers and crew. Malaysian authorities have previously said flight MH370 disappeared about an hour after it took off from Kuala Lumpur for the Chinese capital Beijing.

"It changed course after Kota Bharu and took a lower altitude. It made it into the Malacca Strait," the senior military officer, who has been briefed on investigations, told Reuters.

That would appear to rule out sudden catastrophic mechanical failure, as it would mean the plane flew around 500 km (350 miles) at least after its last contact with air traffic control, although its transponder and other tracking systems were off. A non-military source familiar with the investigations said the report was one of several theories and was being checked.

 

Update (Last 30 minutes):

 

 

Indian Navy joins search for missing Malaysian plane in the Malacca Straits

 

KOLKATA: Ships of the Indian Navy that are on patrol in the Malacca Straits are participating in Search and Rescue (SAR) operations for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 that has been missing since Saturday with 239 people on board. 

 

Those tracking the aircraft have said that it disappeared over the Malacca Straits while attempting to fly back to Kuala Lumpur from where it took off for Beijing. 

 

The Indian Navy's satellite Rukmini or GSAT-7 has also been activated to try and pick up any clue that may lead investigators to the missing Boeing 777-200 aircraft. 

 

"Indian Navy ships are on routine patrol in the Malacca Straits. Our ships carry out coordinated anti-piracy patrols with the navies of countries like Indonesia and Malaysia. As per the laws of the sea, it is only natural that our vessels will participate in the SAR operations. The ships that have heli-components will use the aircraft for the operations. Though several navies patrol the busy shipping lines passing through the Malacca Straits, India has a strong presence there," an official said. 

 

The Navy believes that this will also be a good opportunity to try out the Rukmini satellite, which became operational in 2013 and has put up a commendable performance during exercises. 

 

During the recently concluded Theatre-level Readiness and Operational Exercise (Tropex) in the Bay of Bengal, Rukmini was able to network about 60 ships and 75 aircraft seamlessly. The intention of the Indian Navy is to use this geostationary naval communication and surveillance satellite to cover activities up to the Malacca Straits in the east and the Hormuz Strait to the west. Rukmini has a nearly 2,000 nautical mile 'footprint' over the Indian Ocean Region, another official said. 

 

"There is no competition involved but this is certainly a challenge. SAR operations are a crucial part of any navy's duties, particularly if it wishes to achieve 'blue-water' status. In Fact, SAR operations was the highlight of Milan 2014, the exercise organized by the Indian Navy at Port Blair in February this year in which several navies from the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean regions participated," the official added. 

 

 

After watching the news and seeing that they turned around without radio communication. i am convinced that they had a total electrical outage.

Ialso find it odd that we haven't heard anything about the ATC's,

Poe's law at work: unless you explicitly say you're joking, no position you can express is so extreme that it couldn't be confused for a legitimate belief.

On-topic: The issue with tailoring terrorism based on where has low security is that terrorism is inherently political - what purpose is served by blowing up a Malaysian plane? Is there a group angry at and fighting the Malaysian government?

 

Right on with Poe's law!

Anyways, I think the terror theory lost some of it's weight lately, since it was recently found that one of the two people with stolen passports were Germany Bound Iranian Asylum Seekers according to media reports.

So this likely leaves a suicidal Crew member (It's happened before, remember Egyptair 990?), a control surface failure of some sort (along the lines of Alaska 261), or a Control system failure with possibly a mix of bad CRM (as seen in Birgenair 301 (though there was more to it than that obviously)).

Of course, until we find the recorders, what happened may as well be as well known Voynich Manuscript's words (and no one alive today has apparently been able to decode it yet). I honestly think that the aircraft parts will be found, at least the recorders anyways. Right now, it's more than a matter of when than if, as sometimes, as debris does sometimes take up to a week or two to finally be found, with recorders being up to years (like AF447, sure debris was likely found within a day, but it took about 2 years before we knew the sequence of events after pitot tube failure.)

Of course, a terror attack of some sort shouldn't be left out. But it is less likely now than it was a day ago. There are also some claims on the major news outlets saying the plane was indeed seen turning West on Military Radar. 

Edited March 11, 201412 yr by Leonov

I am assuming that they are dead, there is a slight possibility that they survived though or they crash landed on an island and the plane was destroyed leaving no contact with the outside world (sarcasm)

Yeah, I know, I'm taking sergiyj's comment seriously here, but, crash landing is a possibility - however.... they may be at some sort of deserted base. An electronic failure is likely, or (this usually happens in most cases), the engineer who serviced the plane last could have made a fatal error, that caused a situation like this.

UPDATE:

KUALA LUMPUR: The search for a missing Malaysian jet swung northwest towards the Andaman Sea on Wednesday, far from its intended flight path, exposing Malaysia to mounting criticism that its response was in disarray.

Vietnam scaled back its efforts to locate Malaysia Airlines flight 370, carrying 239 passengers, which had focused on the South China Sea where the jet last made contact on a journey between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing.

The missing Malaysian Airlines plane was mostly filled with Chinese passengers.

China has also sent two air force planes to help in the search, and its civil aviation chief Li Jiaxiang, said on Wednesday that the efforts will be expanded to include land areas.

No trace of the plane has been found since it vanished on Saturday, and contradictory and incomplete information from Malaysian authorities has infuriated relatives enduring an unbearable wait for news of their loved ones.

"We are not going to leave any chance. We have to look at every possibility," civil aviation chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman told AFP, confirming the expansion to the Andaman Sea, which lies north of Indonesia's Sumatra island.

He did not indicate whether the decision to expand the multi-nation hunt hundreds of kilometres (miles) to the northwest of the original search radius was based on any firm indications the plane might be there.

Authorities had earlier expanded the zone to the Malacca Strait off Malaysia's west coast after citing radar data they said indicated a "possibility" the plane may have changed course from its intended flight path over the South China Sea.

But the shifting search areas have fuelled perceptions of official bungling.

Frustration mounted in Malaysia, with the country's active social media and some press outlets turning from sympathy for families of relatives to anger over the fruitless search.

"The mood among Malaysians now is moving from patience in the search for the 239 people aboard the missing flight MH370 to embarrassment and anger over discrepancies about passengers, offloaded baggage and concealed information about its last known position," Malaysian Insider, a leading news portal, said in a commentary.

Twitter users took aim at contradictory reports, and confusion over whether the jet had deviated from its intended course.

"If the Malaysian military did not see MH370 turn toward the Malacca Strait, then why the search? Who decided to look there and why?," one comment said.

"I think Malaysia Airlines and the Malay government is trying to cover up or hide something about flight MH370," wrote another.

The anger and embarrassment were compounded by a report aired in an Australian news programme of a past cockpit security breach involving the co-pilot on the missing jet.

Malaysia Airlines said Tuesday it was "shocked" over the report 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.

The report included photos of the women in the cockpit, with one appearing to show them posing with a man resembling Fariq. Passengers have been prohibited from entering cockpit during flights after the 9/11 attacks on the United States.

Analysts said pressure on Malaysian authorities could derail complicated search and rescue efforts.

"Public pressure may result in the command structure and unity of the search to crack. This is not what we want," said Gerry Soejatman, an independent aviation analyst based in Jakarta.

"Once that cracks, information and ability to verify becomes a problem and reckless speculation will overwhelm common sense."

Vietnam, whose southern coast had been the focus of the recovery effort, said it had suspended its air search and scaled back sea operations as it waited for Malaysia to clarify the potential new direction of the multi-national hunt.

"We've decided to temporarily suspend some search and rescue activities, pending information from Malaysia," deputy minister of transport Pham Quy Tieu said.

"We've asked Malaysian authorities twice, but so far they have not replied to us," Tieu said, when asked about a media report that the plane had been detected over the Strait of Malacca.

"We informed Malaysia on the day we lost contact with the flight that we noticed the flight turned back west but Malaysia did not respond," he added.

Malaysia's air force reiterated on Wednesday it had not ruled out the possibility the Boeing 777 inexplicably changed course, but denied the report it had been detected in the Malacca Strait, far from its planned flight path.

"For the time being, it would not be appropriate... to issue any official conclusions as to the aircraft's flight path until a high amount of certainty and verification is achieved," Air Force chief General Rodzali Daud said in a statement.

"However all ongoing search operations are at the moment being conducted to cover all possible areas where the aircraft could have gone down in order to ensure no possibility is overlooked."

Authorities have so far revealed no details on radar data they said indicated a possible "turn-back".

The search zone shift is the latest twist in the mystery surrounding the plane. On Tuesday, Malaysian authorities said two men travelling on stolen passports appear to be Iranian illegal immigrants -- easing fears of terrorism.

Malaysia's national police chief Khalid Abu Bakar has said his officers are not ruling anything out but were now focusing on a possible hijacking, sabotage, or psychological or personal problems among passengers or crew.

The search operation grew to involve 42 ships and 35 aircraft as of Tuesday, from Southeast Asian countries, Australia, China, New Zealand and the United States.

China, which had 153 of its nationals on board the plane, said it would harness 10 satellites equipped with high-resolution imaging to help in the search.

Boeing said it was joining a US government team to try to unravel the mystery of what happened to its 777-200 plane.




- AFP/CNA/nd

Well, i think that someone, or something caused a electrical problem, and then they lost their hydralics, leaving them to crash in the water without any controls, so i think they are either drifting around in one of the slidey thingys/rubbet boat, or they are dead.

Reminds of the TV show Lost.

 

You'd think if they were drifting in rubber boats they would've been found, But who knows how far a drift can carry you.

 

They're out there somewhere, things just don't disappear all we can do is pray and hope.

I don't really think any form of mid-air explosion is even in the question anymore. Here is an article about families who have called their loved ones that were on the plane and the line still rings, hinting that the phone MAY still be in service http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/03/11/malaysia-airlines-370-passengers-cell-phones/6285325/

Edited March 12, 201412 yr by Officer Spike

UPDATE:

Malaysian police deny Iranians' photos altered in jet drama

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian police dismissed claims on Wednesday that they had doctored photographs of two Iranians who boarded a missing airliner with stolen passports -- saying one man's legs were spliced over the other's in a photocopying error.

Revelations that two passengers on board Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 jet were travelling on stolen EU passports fuelled fears of a terrorist attack after it vanished on Saturday.

Police on Tuesday released photographs of the two men -- now believed to be illegal immigrants with no apparent links to extremist groups -- but the lower halves of the images were identical.

Social media users who saw the photos suggested they may have been intentionally doctored.

"Why did they try to photoshop the legs on the released photo of the Iranians?" one user asked.

"Photoshop failed! same legs on those pics. are they for real??" another posted.

But police spokeswoman Asmawati Ahmad said the odd appearance of the photos stemmed from a police staff member placing one on top of the other when photocopying them.

"It was not done with malice or to mislead," she told AFP.

She said this had been explained to some news photographers when the photos were handed out.

The error fuelled criticism of Malaysian authorities, who are accused of blundering and making contradictory statements since the plane went missing en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing early Saturday.

An extensive international search involving vessels and aircraft from several nations has so far turned up no sign of any wreckage.

Interpol identified the Iranian pair as Seyed Mohammed Reza Delavar, who used a stolen Italian passport, and Pouria Nourmohammadi, who used an Austrian one.

Both passports had been stolen in Thailand.

Authorities have said they believe the Iranian pair were illegal immigrants who were on their way to Europe via Beijing.

- AFP/al

Key areas of confusion in search for MH370

KUALA LUMPUR: False alarms, swirling rumours and contradictory statements have made the wait all the more agonising for the families of the 239 people on board the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

As the search dragged into its fifth day, here are some of the key areas of confusion:

1) Did the plane veer off course?

Malaysia's air force chief on Sunday raised the possibility that the plane inexplicably turned back after taking off from Kuala Lumpur en route to Beijing a day earlier.

General Rodzali Daud said the theory was "corroborated by civil radar", without giving further details.

Late Tuesday, Rodzali was quoted by a Malay-language paper as saying the jet had been tracked hundreds of miles from its intended flight path, over the Strait of Malacca off western Malaysia.

Vietnam had initially said the plane was approaching its airspace when it vanished from radar screens.

Rodzali has since insisted that he did not make the comments attributed to him by the Berita Harian newspaper, and the report was "inaccurate and incorrect".

The search on Wednesday swung even further up Malaysia's west coast, towards the Andaman Sea, but officials gave no indication there was a firm reason to expand the search other than its failure to bear fruit so far.

2) Confusion about timings

Officials say contact with the aircraft was lost at around 1:30am Malaysian time (1730 GMT Friday), about an hour after take-off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Initially, Malaysia Airlines had put the last contact time at 2:40am.

The timing of 1:30am would place the plane between Malaysia and Vietnam, where Vietnamese air traffic control and flight-tracking websites say the plane vanished off radar.

The later time of 2:40am could suggest the plane had indeed veered radically off-course. Despite the Malaysian air force chief's denial of the Berita Harian report, that theory has gained credence given the expanded search area off Malaysia's west coast.

3) Search areas

The search began in the South China Sea and Gulf of Thailand, on the approach to Vietnamese airspace.

Since then, Malaysian authorities have widened the search radius several times as well as shifting its focus, fuelling accusations of official bungling and a slow-footed response.

Authorities have not said whether they have any firm indications that the plane might be in the Andaman Sea.

Vietnam suspended its air search and scaled back a sea search on Wednesday -- awaiting clarification from Malaysia about the potential new direction for the search, which involves dozens of ships and aircraft from several countries including China and the United States.

4) Debris

There have been several false alarms linked to debris spotted in busy shipping lanes in Southeast Asian waters.

Large oil slicks found by Vietnamese planes on Saturday yielded no trace of the plane; nor did debris found Sunday near Tho Chu island, part of a small archipelago off southwest Vietnam.

Malaysia sent ships to investigate a sighting of a possible life raft on Monday, but a Vietnamese vessel that got there first found only flotsam.

Chemical analysis by Malaysia on Monday found no link between oil found at sea and the missing plane.

5) Stolen passports

Revelations that two of the passengers were travelling on stolen EU passports fuelled early speculation that the plane was the victim of a terrorist attack.

Malaysia's national news agency Bernama on Sunday quoted Home Minister Zahid Hamidi as saying the two suspect passengers had "Asian features", without elaborating.

It emerged on Tuesday that the pair appear to be Iranian illegal immigrants who were seeking a new life in Europe.

6) Phones ringing

Chinese media have reported that relatives have heard ringing tones when trying to call their missing loved ones' mobile phones.

The accounts of some passengers on Chinese messaging tool QQ show they had been online, other reports say, although the operator says that failure to shut the software down properly can give that impression.

Alfred Siew, a Singapore-based technology commentator, admits it is a "mystery", but said the matter could be merely due to a network error affecting some phones.

7) Luggage

Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, head of Malaysia's Department of Civil Aviation, said Monday that five passengers who had purchased tickets and checked baggage did not make the flight.

He told journalists their luggage was removed from the plane, per standard procedure, when routine checks indicated the five passengers had not boarded before take-off.

But Malaysia's national police chief Khalid Abu Bakhar insisted on Tuesday that all passengers who booked the flight did board in the end.

However, muddying things further, Malaysia Airlines issued a statement hours later saying there were indeed four passengers who had valid bookings but did not check-in for the flight.

8) Balotelli

Malaysia's civil aviation chief, Azharuddin, also drew scorn on the social media by referring to black Italian footballer Mario Balotelli when discussing the two suspicious passengers who boarded the plane with stolen passports.

When asked what the two suspects travelling on EU passports looked like, Azharuddin referenced Balotelli, who was born in Italy to Ghanaian parents and is an Italian international player, as an example of how one's skin colour does not necessarily indicate nationality.

Malaysia's transport ministry later issued a statement saying "no ill feelings" were meant by the comment, but the social media reaction underlined feelings of embarrassment with so much world attention focussed on the plane search.

- AFP/al

This is quite sad news.

More than likely the plane went down in the ocean after have their computer systems/navigation malfunction which would account for reports of them turning around. Most likely not a terror threat since there would be no significant gain. The plane is down, since radar still picks up the plane whether or not the plane's system is working correctly. But I agree with Darkangel......... 

 

 

Well. I have an update for you guys!

A website by the name of DigitalGlobe, a Colorado based firm, owns one of the world's most advanced satellite networks. After the discovery of what appears to be a plane looking object made by Mike Seberger, 43. Although it looks more like a boat, there is a possibility this could be the wreckage of the mysterious flight that suddenly disappeared from the radar.

UPDATE:

Malaysia under fire over chaotic search for missing jet

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia denied Wednesday that the hunt for a missing jet was in disarray, after the search veered far from the planned route and China said that conflicting information about its course was "pretty chaotic".

Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said Malaysia would "never give up hope" of finding the plane's 239 passengers and crew, dismissing allegations that efforts were mired in confusion after a series of false alarms, rumours and contradictory statements.

"I don't think so. It's far from it. It's only confusion if you want it to be seen as confusion," he said at a press conference, where military and civilian officials faced a grilling from a combative crowd of journalists.

"I think it's not a matter of chaos. There are a lot of speculations (sic) that we have answered in the last few days," he said.

The hunt for Malaysia Airlines flight 370 now encompasses nearly 27,000 nautical miles (over 90,000 square kilometres) -- roughly the size of Portugal -- and involves the navies and air forces of multiple nations.

The search focus had been on an area off Vietnam's South China Sea coast, where it last made contact Saturday on a journey from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

But Malaysian authorities said Wednesday they were expanding it to the Andaman Sea, north of Indonesia, hundreds of miles away.

"So right now there is a lot of information, and it's pretty chaotic, so up to this point we too have had difficulty confirming whether it is accurate or not," China's foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said of accounts of the jet's course. There were 153 Chinese nationals on the flight.

India's coastguard joined the aerial search off the remote Andaman and Nicobar Islands Wednesday and the Indian Air Force was put on standby.

Malaysian air force chief General Rodzali Daud attempted to explain why the search zone had been expanded, telling the press conference that military radar detected an unidentified object early Saturday north of the Malacca Strait off Malaysia's west coast.

He said that the reading, taken less than an hour after the plane lost contact over the South China Sea, was still being investigated and they were not able to confirm it was MH370.

The confusion has fuelled perceptions that Malaysian authorities are unable to handle a crisis on this scale, and infuriated relatives.

Analysts said there were burning questions over what information -- if any -- Malaysia has gleaned from both military and civilian radar, and the Boeing 777's transponders, and over discounted reports it was later detected near Indonesia.

"It's bad enough for a wide-body jet to go missing with 239 people on board, but then for the responsible country's government and aviation agencies to handle the associated information with total incompetence is unforgivable," said David Learmount from industry magazine Flightglobal.

"There are so many information sources that do not appear to have been used effectively in this case. As a result the families of the missing passengers and crew are being kept in the dark," said Learmount, Flightglobal's operations and safety editor.

One new detail did emerge - the words of MH370's final radio transmission.

Malaysia's ambassador to China, Iskandar Sarudin, said one of the pilots said "alright, good night" as the flight switched from Malaysian to Vietnamese airspace, according to Singapore's Straits Times newspaper.

Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, Malaysia's civil aviation chief, later confirmed to AFP that those were the last words from the cockpit.

Frustrations boiled over in Malaysia, with the country's active social media and some press outlets turning from sympathy for the families of relatives to anger over the fruitless search.

"The mood among Malaysians now is moving from patience... to embarrassment and anger over discrepancies about passengers, offloaded baggage and concealed information about its last known position," Malaysian Insider, a leading news portal, said in a commentary.

Twitter users took aim at the web of contradictory information that has fuelled conspiracy theories.

"If the Malaysian military did not see MH370 turn toward the Malacca Strait, then why the search? Who decided to look there and why?" one comment said.

The anger was compounded by a report aired on Australian television of a past cockpit security breach involving the co-pilot of the missing jet.

Malaysia Airlines 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.

Vietnam initially suspended its air and sea search Wednesday as it waited for Malaysia to clarify the new direction of the hunt.

Army deputy chief of staff Vo Van Tuan told AFP that after Malaysia had denied reports the plane was picked up on radar in the Malacca Strait "we decided to send two aircraft and nine boats to search".

- AFP/ac

Japan to assist in search for missing Malaysian jet

TOKYO: Japan is sending four members of its self defence force to help in the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. Tokyo will also deploy four military planes to assist in the search and locate efforts.

This is the first time Japan is sending military aircraft to search for an airplane outside its own territory.

It is quite rare for Japan to conduct rescue and relief efforts outside of its territorial waters, although it has had many experiences conducting disaster relief operations outside of Japan -- with the latest being in the Philippines.

The SDF and the coast guard are expected to play a central role in this current mission.

However, the concern is how Japan will cooperate with China, and whether China will accept Japan's olive branch.

Tensions between the two countries are regarded at its highest since the end of World War Two

Masashi Nishihara, president of the Research Institute for Peace and Security, said: "I hope so, but it may not work out. In fact in some areas, Chinese authorities may decline the Japanese offer. In which case we should understand."

Takahiro Araki, principal deputy director of the international operations division at the Ministry of Defence, said: "When there are disasters, entities involved in relief activities will not carry weapons. Based on that standard, we will cooperate.

"We have one goal, and (we will) cooperate for that goal. If it's within the Asian region, we can quickly get to places with our transport aircraft, so it's possible we will cooperate."

- CNA/ac

Missing flight MH370: Volunteers on hand to give families emotional support

BEIJING: Conflicting information on the missing Malaysia Airlines plane is proving frustrating for families already enduring an agonising wait for answers.

Five days have passed since Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 went missing.

Five days and counting in a long wait for information for families camped out at Lido Hotel in Beijing.

Desperate for answers, they want to know the fate of the missing aircraft, which was carrying their loved ones back home when it vanished between Malaysia and Vietnam with 239 people about an hour after taking off on 8 March.

But the lack of clear information on how the plane went missing is not helping matters.

Teams of volunteers from different relief organisations have been deployed at the hotel to help these families.

They said they hope to give what little support and encouragement they can.

Zeng Yunji, a volunteer with Tzu-Chi Foundation, said: "Our volunteers accompany by their side silently. When they are sad, our volunteers will sit beside them, listening to them and counselling them.

"Volunteers will bring them tea, snacks and fruits anytime. Over the past few days, they have been so worried about their relatives on the plane that they no longer have the mood to take care of themselves."

Another volunteer, Mr Lin, said: "What they (relatives of those on board) need now is peace. When news of where the plane's location is known it will be easier to arrange things. For now the main thing is not to agitate them. Do not spread unverified information."

But volunteers said some families are beginning to prepare for the worst.

Zeng Yunji said: "Some of the relatives now tell us they are actually prepared...that the plane will never be found."

Malaysia Airlines has said it would bear all expenses for the family members for at least one week.

They can decide to stay in Beijing or leave for Kuala Lumpur to await information.

But for those waiting, there is no cut-off time.

"I won't give up waiting. No matter what information it is, there has to be information about what happened, right?" said a family member of a passenger on board flight MH370.

At the ballroom area of the Lido hotel where families and relatives of passengers on board the missing plane are gathered, doors are guarded closely and media kept outside.

Inside, the families vow to keep up the silent watch for their loved ones.

- CNA/ir