PUTRAJAYA, March 10 — Three days after Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disappeared without a trace, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) had done their “very best” and that it is up to them to beef up security.
“I think they have done their very best, pointing fingers at people is not going to help.
“Every incident gives a lesson, so it’s up to them,” he told reporters when asked if he agreed there was security lapse at the airport, allowing two passengers with fake identities to board the missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) plane bound for Beijing.
The former prime minister arrived at Everly Hotel here along with his wife Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali and son, Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir to visit the families of passengers and crew onboard the missing plane.
Intense speculation is swirling around the two passengers on the missing Boeing 777-200 who had boarded the plane using stolen Italian and Austrian passports.
Subsequent reports later claimed that two Asian men using the stolen passports had jointly purchased their tickets in Phuket to board the flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, enroute to Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
However, no links have been established between the imposters and the plane’s disappearance.
Search has intensified since the air traffic control lost contact with the plane carrying 239 passengers and crew at 1.30 on Saturday, with 34 aircraft and 40 ships from Malaysia as well as its neighbouring countries, China, Australia and the US.
The search area has also widened to 50 nautical miles from the Igari point near Vietnam in the South China Sea and near Penang in the Straits of Malacca.
