馬來西亞否認就失蹤飛機提供前後矛盾的信息
Malaysian officials are denying accusations they have provided inconsistent information on a missing jetliner with 239 people on board, as the search for the plane entered its fifth day.
Transport Minister Seri Hishammuddin said Malaysia is dealing with an "unprecedented" situation and will do "whatever it takes" to find the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 that went missing Saturday.
"My heart reaches out to the families of the passengers and crew, and I give you my assurance that we will not reduce the tempo and that we will not spare any effort to find the missing plane."
At a news conference Wednesday, the minister said 42 ships and 39 aircraft from 12 countries have so far "found nothing" in their search, which now spans over 50,000 kilometers.
He said the focus is both on the South China Sea, where the plane was last tracked by civilian air traffic controllers, and the Strait of Malacca, which is across the Malaysian peninsula and several hundred kilometers away.
Earlier Wednesday, the Malaysian military backed away from statements that it last tracked the plane in the strait, which is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world.
At the news conference, a military official said the plane may have been spotted on radar at 2:15 a.m. Saturday local time 320 kilometers northwest of the Malaysian island of Penang. But, the official said, he cannot be sure it was indeed the flight in question.
If the plane did make it to the Strait of Malacca, it would call into question theories that the jet experienced some sort of sudden catastrophic event shortly after takeoff that prevented pilots from communicating with authorities.
The plane disappeared from civilian radar without any distress calls about an hour after leaving Kuala Lumpur en route to Beijing early Saturday, when weather conditions appeared to be clear.官員否認像有人所批評的那樣在搜尋失聯班機過程中提供了前後矛盾的信息。
馬來西亞交通部部長希山慕丁•侯賽因說，馬拉西亞處理的是“前所未有的情況”，他們將“不惜一切代價”找到失蹤客機。
他說：“我很同情乘客和機組人員的親屬，我向你們保證，我們不會放緩步伐，我們將不遺餘力地搜尋失蹤的飛機。”
這位交通部長在星期三的記者會上說，12個國家派遣42艘船隻和39架飛機在5萬平方公里的範圍內進行搜尋，但到目前爲止一無所獲。
他說，搜索範圍主要在南中國海海域和馬六甲海峽。馬六甲海峽位於馬來西亞半島以西，距離民航空中飛行管制人員與該班機失去聯繫的位置數百公里。
馬來西亞軍方曾表示，他們在雷達屏幕上看到過失聯飛機，飛機當時的位置是馬六甲海峽，但是軍方星期三收回了這個說法。
馬來西亞軍方在星期三的記者會上說，他們可能在當地時間星期六凌晨2點15分在雷達屏幕上看到飛機，飛機的位置在馬來西亞檳城島西北320公里處，但不能確定那就是失蹤的馬航班機。
如果這架班機確曾飛到馬六甲海峽上空，有關班機起飛後不久便突發某種災難性事件、以至駕駛員無法與有關當局聯絡的說法就會受到質疑。
這架班機星期六凌晨離開吉隆坡飛往北京，大約一個小時後，在沒有發出呼救信號的情況下在民用雷達上消失，看來當時天氣晴朗。
