MH370 - PM Australia bawa masalah ke Parlimen, PM Malaysia cabut lari dari Parlimen...

Kalau PM Australia boleh berdepan di Parlimen...Najib mana???

PM Australia buat kenyataan di Parlimen pasai MH370...

Penemuan di Lautan Hindi berwibawa tapi belum disahkan...

Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein (gambar) menyifatkan penemuan dua objek di Lautan Hindi oleh pihak berkuasa Australia berwibawa, tetapi ia masih belum disahkan sebagai pesawat milik Malaysia Airlines (MAS) MH370.

Hishammuddin berkata laporan penemuan satelit tersebut adalah pemecah berita dalam usaha mencari dan menyelamat yang masuk hari ke-13.

"Penemuan tersebut berwibawa, tetapi ia masih belum disahkan dan dipastikan," kata Hishammuddin dalam sidang media yang padat dengan wartawan di Hotel Sama-Sama hari ini.

Hishammuddin berkata setiap petunjuk yang ditemui perlu disahkan kebenarannya bagi mengelak memberi sebarang harapan palsu kepada ahli keluarga penumpang MH370.

"Ia supaya tidak memberi harapan palsu kepada keluarga penumpang.

"Satu-satunya maklumat yang ahli keluarga seluruh dunia mahu, yang kami tidak ada adalah di mana lokasi pesawat itu," kata beliau.

Awal hari ini, Perdana Menteri Australia, Tony Abbott berkata tentera udara negara itu sedang menyiasat tentang kemungkinan serpihan daripada pesawat MH370 yang hilang itu ditemui di laut.

Ini berikutan penemuan dua imej satelit dengan saiz  24 meter (79 kaki) yang dipercayai tenggelam timbul di permukaan air.

Pihak berkuasa Malaysia Isnin lepas meminta Canberra mengambil tanggungjawab mencari di "Koridor Selatan" dalam usaha mencari Boeing 777 yang hilang pada pagi 8 Mac semasa perjalanan ke Beijing, China dengan 239 penumpang itu.

Kerajaan Malaysia percaya, pesawat itu secara sengaja ditukar hala tujunya dan terbang beberapa jam selepas keluar daripada laluan asalnya – sama ada ke utara Asia Tengah atau ke selatan di Lautan Hindi.

Lautan Hindi yang ketiga terbesar di dunia mempunyai kedalaman purata lebih daripada 12,000 kaki atau dua batu (3.6km).

Ia lebih dalam daripada Laut Atlantik di mana masa dua tahun diambil untuk mencari bangkai pesawat Air France di dasar laut yang hilang pada 2009 walaupun serpihan terapung dapat dilihat dengan cepat di lokasi kemalangan.

Setakat ini, operasi mencari oleh tentera laut dan pesawat yang melibatkan lebih 10 negara gagal mencari MH370 yang hilang lebih seminggu lalu selepas berlepas dari Kuala Lumpur ke Beijing dan mengalihkan laluan penerbangan dari laluan asal.

Selepas mendapat maklumat tersebut, Hishammuddin memberitahu empat pesawat telah dikerahkan ke barat daya Perth yang berkeluasa 2,500 kilometer.

"Pesawat Tentera Udara Australia (RAAF), P-3 Orion tiba di lokasi sekitar jam 10.50 pagi.

"Tiga lagi pesawat  diarahkan ke kawasan tersebut, termasuk satu lagi pesawat RAAF, sebuah pesawat Orion daripada Tentera Udara New Zealand dan pesawat Tentera Laut Amerika Syarikat, P-8 Poseidon. – tmi

Journalists: Why can't the relatives talk to us...

The Malaysian government has been put under the international media spotlight again for the manner in which it handled a chaotic situation yesterday, during  the daily press briefing on the missing MAS Flight MH370.

Some foreign journalists were surprised by the situation and they had no clue as to why the Malaysian authorities stopped the Chinese relatives of those on board the plane from speaking to the press.

Denmark’s TV2 correspondent Benjamin Kurstein said it was “very unfortunate” of the Malaysian authorities to handle the situation in the way they did.

“These people were clearly frustrated and they came here to expressed their frustration... I saw them being removed from the conference room.

“No matter whether this was to protect them, or it was to stop them from talking to the press, it is going to reflect very badly on Malaysia,” Kurstein told Malaysiakini yesterday evening.

Recalling what he had seen yesterday, he added, “There was almost fighting between the police and journalists.”

He believes there are better ways to handle a situation such as this.

“It is not for me to say how they should handle this, but I am pretty positive that the way they handled this situation was not smart,” said Kurstein, who is in Kuala Lumpur to cover the on-going missing Flight MH370 issue.

As to whether this incident went against press freedom, he reserved his comment. But Kurstein questioned why the Malaysian government did not allow the Chinese relatives to talk to the press.

“No matter what, it is important not to forget that this is a tragic story, especially for those who came here and are frustrated with the lack of information.

“It is a biggest tragedy in their life. We should not forget these are the traumatised people and I think they will be even more traumatised after witnessing a situation like this,” he said.

BBC video goes viral

Another journalist, Tom McRae from Denmark 3 News, said the Malaysian authorities should not have stopped the Chinese relatives if they wanted to speak to the press.

“(During the first commotion,) a number of police came and tried to stop them from talking or tried to get them out.

“The situation was like they are dragging and carrying the family members away. And one Chinese woman was actually screaming,” McRae recalled.

McRae said he had no clue as to why the Malaysia authorities handled the situation like this “unless they are withholding some sort of information”.

Chaos broke out at the auditorium used by the authorities for the daily press briefings on Flight MH370 yesterday evening, after a group of Chinese nationals barged in to speak to reporters.

Another round of commotion erupted when the families were escorted out of the media secretariat office under heavy police guard about 5.40pm.

Journalists were also manhandled and pushed away when they tried to approach the Chinese nationals as they were being taken to an upper floor.

A news clip uploaded by BBC, in which its journalist asked the police to explain the situation, went viral on cyberworld.

Commenting on this, Defence Minister and Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein tweeted yesterday that he has ordered an immediate inquiry into the events in the press room.

Hishammuddin said he could empathise with what the families were going through and that one of the main priorities of the government was how to handle the families and their emotions.- malaysiakini

Missing flight MH370 - satellite images could be wreckage of crashed plane...

The 13-day search for Malaysia Airlines flight 370 could be close to resolution after satellite images picked up what appears to be a 24-metre long bobbing object in waters off the Australian coast. 

But the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said efforts by aircraft to locate the objects were being hampered by poor visibility and weather on scene.

The maritime authority said on Thursday it had not been able to confirm if the objects located by satellite 2500 kilometres south-west of Perth were debris from the missing plane. The objects in the satellite images, which were released on Thursday evening, were described by the authority as "indistinct" but the sightings had been assessed and were credible.

John Young from AMSA's emergency response division said the objects were of a reasonable size and "probably awash with water bobbing up and down under the surface". 

He said the largest object had been assessed as measuring 24 metres, with "another one that's smaller than that" and a number of other images located in the vicinity of the largest object.

"We have to get there, find them, see them, assess them," he said, to confirm if the images were debris from the missing plane.

"The weather is not playing the game with us. We may get a sighting, we may not."

US television network ABC has reported that US naval craft dispatched to the site had picked up significant "radar returns" from the search area.

"Crew on @USNavy P-8 spotter tell [of] ‘significant radar returns’ coming from site where possible MH370 objects spotted," ABC foreign editor Jon Williams tweeted.

Mr Young said water in the search area would be several thousand metres deep.

"This is a lead, it's probably the best lead we have right now, but we need to get there, find them, see them, assess them to know whether it's really meaningful or not and I caution again they will be difficult to find."

Mr Young said the images were close enough to the National Transportation Safety Board's assessment area to potentially be linked to the 777. He said the first royal Australian Airforce Orion aircraft had arrived in the search area at 1.50 pm on Wednesday.

A further three aircraft have been tasked to the area.

A Poseidon from the US was also on scene, while a New Zealand Orion was due to arrive at 8pm.

A second Australian Orion is due to arrive at 6pm.

A P-3 Orion aircraft.

Mr Young said an Australian Hercules had been tasked to drop marker buoys to mark the search base.

Australia took charge of the search for the missing plane in the Indian Ocean on Monday.

The Indian Ocean lies on one of two "vectors" that authorities identified on the weekend as paths the mystery flight might have taken.

The Australian-led search, supported by the US and New Zealand, began in a massive stretch of ocean west of Perth.

News of the potential breakthrough emerged on Thursday afternoon when Mr Abbott told Parliament that an Australian P-3 Orion aircraft had been diverted to check out the objects and would be followed by other planes.

But Mr Abbott described the breakthrough as "new and credible information".

"The Australian maritime safety authority has received information based on satellite imagery of objects possibly related to the search," Mr Abbott said.

"Following specialist analysis of this satellite imagery, two possible objects related to the search have been identified."

"I should tell the House - and we must keep this in mind - the task of locating these objects will be extremely difficult and it may turn out that they are not related to the search for flight MH370," Mr Abbott said.

"Nevertheless, I did want to update the House on this potentially important development.’’

Mr Abbott said he had informed his Malaysian counterpart, Prime Minister Najib Razak, and promised to keep him updated.

Families wait in hope

Malaysia's acting transport minister Hishammuddin Hussein urged caution about the news but said ''with every lead there is hope".

"We will need to wait for the aircrafts to go to the area," he said.

"We need to verify."

Malaysians gathered around televisions in cafes and hotel lobbies to watch the press conference.

Malaysian Insider website flashed "the best lead we have had until now".

Acting transport minister Hishammuddin was locked in briefings at the search headquarters in the Sama Sama Hotel near Kuala Lumpur airport.

Mr Hishammuddin said he had not being told what kind of debris had been sighted.

Earlier a senior Australian navy officer left search headquarters at a Kuala Lumpur hotel.

"I can't comment," he said.

Prime minister Najib Razak received a call from Mr Abbott informing him that "two possible objects had been identified the southern Indian Ocean," Mr Hishammuddin said.

The Australian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur had also briefed him on the situation.

"At this stage, Australian officials have yet to establish whether these objects are indeed related to the search for MH370," Mr Hishammuddin said.

At the Lido Hotel in Beijing, where families have waited desperately for information on their loved ones, grim-faced relatives filed into a hotel conference room to watch a live broadcast of the Australian press conference.

About 100 people in the room watched silently and intently, with police and medical personnel standing by at the back.

A sad, collective sigh went up in the room when the Australian official said the first thing to do would be to check for survivors.

One woman in a blue jumper, who said her husband was on the Malaysia Airlines flight, told Fairfax Media through tears that she hoped the Australian government was wrong and that the objects would not prove to be wreckage of the plane.

"I hope it's not the truth," she said.- smh

cheers.