Missing aircraft was well maintained, says MAS
As a massive search operation doubles in effort to locate the missing Malaysian Airlines’ MH370, the airline has indicated that maintenance of the B777-200 was up to date.
"The B777-200 aircraft that operated MH370 underwent maintenance on 23 February 2014, 12 days before this particular flight on 8 March 2014.The next check is due on 19 June 2014. The maintenance was conducted at the KLIA hangar and there were no issues on the health of the aircraft," Malaysian Airlines said in a statement.
The Boeing 777 is regarded as one of the world’s safest jets. It had GPS, an indestructible black box and a beacon designed to float to the surface.
But despite 10 countries joining the extended search which includes remote parts of mainland Malaysia and the Straits of Malacca, there are still no confirmed sightings of the wreckage.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang had earlier urged the Malaysian authorities to sharpen its search efforts.
"We have a responsibility to demand and urge the Malaysian side to step up search efforts, start an investigation as soon as possible and provide relevant information to China correctly and in a timely manner," he said.
One of the men travelling on a stolen passport was a young Iranian who is thought to have been migrating to Europe and is not believed to have terrorist links, Malaysian police say.
Reports from Thailand suggest that the tickets of the two men, routing them to Amsterdam via Beijing, had been bought through a Thai travel agent and an Iranian middleman.
By Diane Evans and Ian Jarrett
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