Police Probe On Crew, Passengers Of Missing Airliner Normal Procedure, Says Transport Ministry

KUALA LUMPUR, March 17 -- A police investigation on the crew and passengers of a missing Malaysian airliner is a normal procedure, the Transport Ministry said Monday, and appealed to the public not to jump to conclusions in the matter.

It said in a statement that the police were conducting an investigation on the crew and passengers of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH370, which disappeared while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, as well as the engineers who might have had contact with the aircraft before take-off.

"Police searched the home of the pilot on Saturday, March 15. Officers spoke to family members of the pilot and experts are examining the pilot's flight simulator. On March 15, the police also searched the home of the co-pilot," the statement said.

It said the MH370 search-and-rescue operation continued to be a multi-national effort led by Malaysia and Malaysian officials were contacting countries along the 'northern and southern corridors' where the plane could have flown.

The northern corridor stretches from the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to northern Thailand and the southern corridor, from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean.

The statement said both the northern and southern corridors were being treated with equal importance in the operation.

"Malaysian officials are currently discussing with all partners how to best deploy assets along the two corridors.

"Malaysian officials are also asking countries to provide further assistance in the search for the aircraft, including satellite data, analysis, ground-search capabilities, radar data and maritime and air assets," the statement said.

It said Malaysian officials were contacting countries along the northern and southern corridors where the plane could have flown. These countries include Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Indonesia, Australia and France, it added.

MAS Flight MH370, carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew, went missing en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing about an hour after taking off from the KL International Airport at 12.41 am on March 8. It should have landed in Beijing at 6.30 am on the same day.

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