Submarine begins searching for black box of Malaysia Airlines aircraft, as film director Peter Jackson's private jet is also deployed to Indian Ocean
Malaysia Defence Secretary Hishammuddin Hussein on the phone with Philip Hammond Photo: @HishammuddinH2O
Source: by Jonathan Pearlman, Kuala Lumpur
A British submarine has joined the hunt for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane in the Indian Ocean and will try to detect pings from the aircraft's black box, adding to a growing search contingent that includes the private jet of film director Peter Jackson.
As Malaysian police warned the mystery of the plane's disappearance may never be solved, the Ministry of Defence revealed that HMS Tireless, a Trafalgar-class nuclear submarine, had arrived in the search zone and was due to begin searching on Wednesday.
Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, informed Hishammuddin Hussein, his Malaysian counterpart, about the deployment during a phone discussion on Tuesday night.
The submarine will have just days to detect pings from the black box before the pinger's 30-day batteries run out of life.
British nuclear submarine HMS Tireless (AFP)
The Royal Navy ship HMS Echo, which can help to survey the ocean floor, was also due to begin searching, joining ten planes and eight other ships in a search zone west of Perth.
The multinational contingent also now includes a Gulfstream G650 owned by Mr Jackson, the Oscar-award winning director of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogies, New Zealand media reported. Mr Jackson approved the jet's use but it was reportedly chartered rather than donated.
No wreckage has yet been found from the plane since it disappeared with 239 passengers aboard on March 8.
Australian authorities said the search on Wednesday would cover an area of about 85,000 square miles but was facing heavy weather including "sea fog and isolated thunderstorms".
Families of some of the 153 Chinese passengers on the plane have travelled to Kuala Lumpur to demand that the government "reveal the truth" and have held a three-hour meeting with Malaysian aviation authorities.
Though some of the families have refused to give up hope of survivors, lawyers from a United States firm have swooped on the relatives at their hotels in Kuala Lumpur and Beijing to make pitches for a looming legal suit over the apparent crash.
Ribbeck Law, a Chicago-based firm which has acted in numerous plane crash lawsuits, has sent employees to Beijing and to Kuala Lumpur. The firm has already tried to force Boeing to produce documents but the petition was dismissed by a court in Illinois.
Malaysian police said a criminal investigation into the crash was ongoing but warned the cause may never be uncovered.
Khalid Abu Bakar, the police chief, said officers have interviewed 170 witnesses but the investigation could "go on and on and on".
"There are still more people we need to interview," he said.
"We have to clear every little thing... At the end of the investigations, we may not even know the real cause."
Authorities believe the disabling of the plane's communications systems and the strange turn westward shortly after take-off were deliberate. The police investigation has focused on Zaharie Ahmad Shah, the pilot, and Fariq Abdul Hamid, the co-pilot, but nothing suspicious about them or any other passengers has yet been found.
Malaysia Defence Secretary Hishammuddin Hussein on the phone with Philip Hammond Photo: @HishammuddinH2O
Source: by Jonathan Pearlman, Kuala Lumpur
A British submarine has joined the hunt for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane in the Indian Ocean and will try to detect pings from the aircraft's black box, adding to a growing search contingent that includes the private jet of film director Peter Jackson.
As Malaysian police warned the mystery of the plane's disappearance may never be solved, the Ministry of Defence revealed that HMS Tireless, a Trafalgar-class nuclear submarine, had arrived in the search zone and was due to begin searching on Wednesday.
Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, informed Hishammuddin Hussein, his Malaysian counterpart, about the deployment during a phone discussion on Tuesday night.
The submarine will have just days to detect pings from the black box before the pinger's 30-day batteries run out of life.
British nuclear submarine HMS Tireless (AFP)
The Royal Navy ship HMS Echo, which can help to survey the ocean floor, was also due to begin searching, joining ten planes and eight other ships in a search zone west of Perth.
The multinational contingent also now includes a Gulfstream G650 owned by Mr Jackson, the Oscar-award winning director of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings trilogies, New Zealand media reported. Mr Jackson approved the jet's use but it was reportedly chartered rather than donated.
No wreckage has yet been found from the plane since it disappeared with 239 passengers aboard on March 8.
Australian authorities said the search on Wednesday would cover an area of about 85,000 square miles but was facing heavy weather including "sea fog and isolated thunderstorms".
Families of some of the 153 Chinese passengers on the plane have travelled to Kuala Lumpur to demand that the government "reveal the truth" and have held a three-hour meeting with Malaysian aviation authorities.
Though some of the families have refused to give up hope of survivors, lawyers from a United States firm have swooped on the relatives at their hotels in Kuala Lumpur and Beijing to make pitches for a looming legal suit over the apparent crash.
Ribbeck Law, a Chicago-based firm which has acted in numerous plane crash lawsuits, has sent employees to Beijing and to Kuala Lumpur. The firm has already tried to force Boeing to produce documents but the petition was dismissed by a court in Illinois.
Malaysian police said a criminal investigation into the crash was ongoing but warned the cause may never be uncovered.
Khalid Abu Bakar, the police chief, said officers have interviewed 170 witnesses but the investigation could "go on and on and on".
"There are still more people we need to interview," he said.
"We have to clear every little thing... At the end of the investigations, we may not even know the real cause."
Authorities believe the disabling of the plane's communications systems and the strange turn westward shortly after take-off were deliberate. The police investigation has focused on Zaharie Ahmad Shah, the pilot, and Fariq Abdul Hamid, the co-pilot, but nothing suspicious about them or any other passengers has yet been found.
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