MH370: Focus now on satellite data; search area now as big as Australia

Malaysia's Minister of Defence and Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein (C) speaks as Foreign Minister Anifah Aman (R) listens during a news conference at a hotel near Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) in Sepang on March 18, 2014.
(AFP/Mohd Rasfan)

KUALA LUMPUR: The search and rescue (SAR) operations for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane have taken a new dimension, said Malaysian Defence Minister and Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein.

He told reporters at a daily news conference on Tuesday evening that the focus now is to gather information from satellites.

Meanwhile, Thailand said on Tuesday that its military radar data had picked up the plane re-tracing its route across Peninsular Malaysia.

Malaysia has asked its foreign partners to examine their satellite data, and requested Southeast Asian nations to relook at their radar data.

It is analysing all data in order to refine and narrow down the search areas.

Hishammuddin listed down the assets deployed by foreign nations in the search for missing airliner, adding that more assets have been deployed at the southern search corridor.

He said the search for the missing MH370 plane is above politics, stressing that priority has always been to locate the missing airliner.

The minister reiterated that the airliner's movement was consistent with deliberate action.

However, he dismissed claims that Malaysia is a hotbed for terrorists.

Police are also zooming in on data from the flight simulator seized from pilot Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah's home.

Practice runways in southern India, Sri Lanka, the US and Europe were reportedly logged into the system.

Meanwhile, China and India have cleared their nationals on board of any terror links.

Malaysia said the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines passenger jet now encompassed an area slightly larger than the entire land mass of Australia.

"The entire search area is now 2.24 million square nautical miles (7.7 million square kilometres)," Hishammuddin Hussein said.

Australia has a land mass of around 7.6 million square kilometres.

The search area extends north into south central Asia, passing across far western China, including Xinjiang and Tibet, as well as south deep into the Indian Ocean west of Australia. The area has been divided into seven quadrants.

"This is an enormous search area. And it is something that Malaysia cannot possibly search on its own," Hishammuddin said.

"I am therefore very pleased that so many countries have come forward to offer assistance and support to the search and rescue operation."

26 countries have deployed dozens of aircraft to search for the missing Beijing-bound jet that went missing in the early hours of March 8.

Eleven days after contact was lost with the aircraft and its 239 passengers and crew, there has been minimal progress in determining precisely what happened or where the plane ended up.

Malaysia's foreign ministry has sent out 12 diplomatic notes to countries in the northern and southern corridors, saying their response has been excellent.   

Prime Minister Najib Razak on Saturday said satellite data showed the plane had been deliberately diverted after it lost contact with ground controllers.