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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Malaysia missing plane: Relatives threaten hunger strike | Malaysia missing plane: Relatives threaten hunger strike |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Relatives of the Chinese passengers on the missing Malaysia Airlines flight have threatened a hunger strike if the Malaysian authorities fail to provide more accurate information. | Relatives of the Chinese passengers on the missing Malaysia Airlines flight have threatened a hunger strike if the Malaysian authorities fail to provide more accurate information. |
| Families vented their anger at a meeting with the airline in Beijing. | Families vented their anger at a meeting with the airline in Beijing. |
| Officials in Malaysia say they are trying to narrow the search area, which now covers about 2.24m square nautical miles (7.68m sq km). | Officials in Malaysia say they are trying to narrow the search area, which now covers about 2.24m square nautical miles (7.68m sq km). |
| Flight MH370 went missing on 8 March with 239 people on board. | Flight MH370 went missing on 8 March with 239 people on board. |
| Some 25 countries are involved in looking for the plane. | Some 25 countries are involved in looking for the plane. |
| A total of 153 Chinese nationals were on board the missing aircraft, which was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. | A total of 153 Chinese nationals were on board the missing aircraft, which was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. |
| China's state media has been criticising the Malaysian operation. | China's state media has been criticising the Malaysian operation. |
| 'Political fight' | |
| Some Chinese relatives have said they believe the Malaysian authorities are holding information back and have demanded more clarity. | Some Chinese relatives have said they believe the Malaysian authorities are holding information back and have demanded more clarity. |
| After a meeting with officials from Malaysia Airlines on Tuesday, families held a vote on organising a hunger strike. | |
| "What we want is the truth," said one woman. | "What we want is the truth," said one woman. |
| "Don't let the passengers become the victims of a political fight." | "Don't let the passengers become the victims of a political fight." |
| Ahmad Jauhari Yahy, chief executive of Malaysia Airlines, told a news conference on Monday that the airline was doing everything it could for the families. | Ahmad Jauhari Yahy, chief executive of Malaysia Airlines, told a news conference on Monday that the airline was doing everything it could for the families. |
| Meanwhile, following speculation about the pilot's links to Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysian Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein has said: "The search for flight MH370 is bigger than politics." | |
| Captain Zaharie Shah was reportedly a supporter of the jailed politician. | |
| Mr Hussein praised the international response to the search efforts and said teams were continuing to search two vast air corridors north and south of the plane's last known location. | |
| He added that the Malaysian authorities still believed the disappearance was a result of "deliberate action" on the plane. | |
| 'No terror links' | |
| Malaysia says the plane was intentionally diverted and could have flown on either a northern or southern arc from its last known position in the Malacca Straits. | Malaysia says the plane was intentionally diverted and could have flown on either a northern or southern arc from its last known position in the Malacca Straits. |
| China said earlier it had started searching its territory for the aircraft. | |
| Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia Huang Huikang also said background checks had shown no evidence to suggest any of the Chinese passengers had terror links, Xinhua news agency reported. | |
| China said it had also deployed 21 satellites to help with the search. | |
| Meanwhile, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa) said it had narrowed down its search area in the southern Indian Ocean based on satellite data and analysis of the aircraft's possible movements. | |
| However, Amsa said the search area was still vast. | |
| The Malaysia Airlines plane left Kuala Lumpur at 00:40 local time (16:40 GMT) on 8 March. The last transmission from the plane's Aircraft and Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) was received at 01:07. | |
| A transmission expected 30 minutes later did not come through, Malaysia Airlines Chief Executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahy told reporters on Monday. | |
| The last words from the plane - "all right, good night" - were believed to have been said by co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid to air traffic controllers at 01:19 as the plane left Malaysian airspace. | |
| It then disappeared from air traffic controllers' screens at 01:21, when it was over the South China Sea, but was last spotted by military radar at 02:15 over the Malacca Straits - the opposite direction from its planned flight path. | |
| Satellite communication at 08:11 showed that the plane could have continued flying for a further seven hours in a northern or southern arc. | |
| Several countries have already rejected the suggestion that their airspace might have been breached. |