Flight search expands to 2.24 m square miles

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Malaysia's acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein (C) takes questions during a news conference about the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, at Kuala Lumpur International Airport March 18, 2014. Also pictured are Malaysia Airlines Chief Executive Officer Ahmad Jauhari Yahya (L) and Malaysia's Foreign Minister Anifah Aman.[Photo/Agencies]

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The search area for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH 370 has been expanded to 2.24 million square nautical miles, Malaysia's acting transport minister said at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur Tuesday.

The search areas – covering an area almost as large as Australia - encompass a northern corridor stretching approximately from the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to northern Thailand, as well as a southern one from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean.

Hishammuddin Hussein, who is also Malaysia's defence minister, told reporters that the search areas of the northern and southern corridors were each divided into seven quadrants, with each quadrant covering an area of 160,000 square nautical miles (about 548,784 sq km).

Northern Corridor in Spotlight

Malaysian authorities said that – regarding the northern arch - China, the US, South Korea, Japan, the EU and others have sent specialized flights to search for the missing plane. And - in the southern arch - Indonesia and Australia are using radar equipment.

In addition, Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia Huang Huikang said Tuesday that China has started to search its territory for the missing jetliner, covering a northern corridor through which the aircraft could have gone.

The northern corridor is now the focus of attention, as the Malaysian authorities said that the plane's captain and co-pilot have flown the northern corridor.

Captain's Political Views Raise Questions

Malaysia's Foreign Minister stressed at the press conference that the country has set aside partisan differences and is giving high priority to the search for missing flight MH370.

His comments came following earlier reports that Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, the pilot of the plane, is a supporter - and a relative - of Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.

Malaysia's Prime Minister has said that somebody deliberately steered the plane off course. This means that experts are now focusing on the pilots.

But a former Malaysia Airlines pilot – who is a friend of Captain Zaharie - told China Daily he does not believe that Zaharie hijacked the plane or committed suicide by crashing the jet.

"He is a nice guy, a good guy, never had any problem with anyone," said Nik Huzlan, who went to flight school with Zaharie in 1979. "He is a normal person. He goes out socially, has friends and doesn't fight with people, just like any normal person. "

Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim confirmed the MH 370 captain is a card-carrying member of his party and one of his supporters, but dismissed suggestions that the pilot may have hijacked the plane as a political act aimed at expressing his support, CNN reported.

Anwar was sentenced to jail on charges of sodomy hours before the Malaysia Airlines flight disappeared en route to Beijing on March 8.

No Evidence Pointing to Act of Terror

Hishammuddin Hussein said at the press conference Tuesday that there is no evidence to suggest that the plane’s disappearance is linked to terrorists targeting Malaysia.

Also on Tuesday, China's ambassador to Malaysia said Chinese authorities had ruled out the possibility that any of the Chinese passengers had terror links, following a thorough investigation.

And US and European security sources said efforts by various governments to investigate the backgrounds of everyone on the flight had not found links to militant groups or anything else that could explain the jet's disappearance.