KUALA LUMPUR, March 8 — Releasing information related to the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 could jeopardise Australia’s international ties with several countries including Malaysia, an Australian newspaper has reported.
In a report yesterday, The Australian said it had sought the release of satellite tracking information about the missing flight from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) under their country’s Freedom of Information policy but was rejected.
The daily cited ATSB general manager Colin McNamara saying that revealing the documents “would, or could reasonably be expected to, cause damage to the international relations of the commonwealth”.
According to The Australian, the documents it requested was central to the ATSB’s defence of its failure to find the Malaysian plane.
The daily further reported that ATSB had earlier agreed to a theory of a “ghost flight” scenario of “unresponsive” pilots, but this was however challenged by a panel of international experts who claimed that the flight was forcibly brought down by Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah in an area outside the search zone.
Despite receiving the “consensus” of the panel, The Australian said the explanation to this theory was removed from the ATSB’s website after citing that not all panellists agreed to it.
The Malaysia Airlines plane went missing with all its 239 people on board while travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014.
With the governments of Malaysia, Australia and China having suspended their operations, the families of those on board are seeking to fund their private initiative to find the missing plane and have spoken with some global aviation and oceanography experts as well as the ATSB.
Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai has said that Putrajaya does not object to the private campaign and will try to provide any help it can.
