KUALA LUMPUR, March 28 — Police will not release any information related to the probe on the pilot and co-pilot of the missing flight MH370 for now, as it may affect ongoing investigations, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said today.
The acting transport minister acknowledged that the lack of information on the progress of the international probe is taking its toll on the families of the passengers and crew of the missing plane, but stressed that it is very “complex”.
“If we could, I think the police would (release information), but I think they won’t do it just to ease emotions. We need to make sure it not only affects the investigations which have now taken an international perspective, but also the investigation is very complex,” he said at the daily press conference here.
The pilot of the missing Malaysia Airlines-owned Boeing 777-200, Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, and his co-pilot, Fariq Abdul Hamid, along with the 10 crew members, have been the focus an international probe involving the Malaysian police and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar had said earlier that the probe will focus on four possibilities — hijack, sabotage, personal problems and psychological issues with those on the flight.
Police had visited the homes and interviewed over 100 people related to the 12 crew members. They also confiscated a home-made flight simulator from Zaharie’s home in Shah Alam.
The FBI, however, was reported to have found no evidence implicating Zaharie of any misdoing.
Hishammuddin stressed that the authorities cannot take a simplistic position and reveal information to soothe high emotions, especially among family members of Chinese passengers on the missing plane.
MAS chief executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, meanwhile, explained that Zaharie and Fariq were paired for the flight using a roster system, and that they did not necessarily have to know each other prior to the flight.
He added that psychological checks are performed on pilots prior to being hired by MAS, and either every six months or annually by aviation doctors as part of their medical evaluation.
“If they knew each other before this, like I said, we have a large community of pilots. They tend to know each other in their groups... sometimes they don’t know,” he said.
It has been 21 days now since flight MH370’s last contact with air traffic controllers, sparking what is arguably the largest ever search and rescue operation in aviation history.
After initial searches in the South China Sea and the Straits of Malacca, data mined from satellite information eventually narrowed down the search area to a section of the southern Indian Ocean over 2,000 kilometres west of Perth, Australia.
There have been several satellite sightings of possible debris from the plane but the dozens of vessels and aircraft deployed in the search effort — currently being lead by Australia — has yet to yield any concrete evidence of the plane’s final resting place.
