China urged to re-look into passenger manifest

China has been urged to re-evaluate its assessment of the Flight MH370 passenger manifest as the search for the missing plane enters its 10th day.

Thus far, authorities from various countries along with Interpol have been unable to detect any suspicious individuals on board the flight, apart from two Iranians travelling with false passports.

It has been deduced that the two Iranians were unlikely to be hijackers and investigators are scrambling for clues as to who could have diverted the plane off its Kuala Lumpur – Beijing route.

During the daily press briefing by the Malaysian authorities today, acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said there the Chinese authorities had previously cleared all 152 of its nationals on board the plane.

However, Hishammuddin said the Chinese authorities have been requested earlier today to "re-look and re-intensify" efforts to scrutinise the passenger manifest.

Salient points from the press conference:

The search

The authorities are trying to narrow down the search area and are flying in more experts, including those from countries unrelated to the incident, such as France, to help.

The plane

All systems, including the Emergency location transmitting system (ELTS), were ensured to be servicable before take-off. The ELTS is always armed and will trigger when the plane touches water or crashes.

The pilots

The authorities are looking at all possibilities, including pilot suicide, as causes for the missing aircraft.

Pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah was not a stand-in, as suggested by one reporter, and was rostered to be on the MH370 flight.

The authorities were asked how often were Zaharie and his co-pilot Fariq Ab Hamid flew the KL-Beijing route, but this was not answered.

Suggestions that the plane could have been remotely controlled by a third party were shot down.

International cooperation

Malaysian authorities have pledged to spend "as much as we can afford" for the search and rescue operations and the issue of cost has not been raised by participating countries.

Diplomatic notes have been sent to 14 countries involved in the search and "more than half" have responded. More are expected to follow suit.

Investigations

Malaysian authorities have been working with the FBI and Interpol "since day one" on March 8. The police have looked into passengers and crew, including ground staff and the pilot's families the following day.

They visited the home of the pilot and co-pilot again on March 15 after evidence was uncovered that key devices that could help determine the location of the plane (i.e. the ACAR system and transponder) were deliberately switched off.

Withholding information

Malaysian authorities said they have been forthcoming with whatever verified information that they have, but have to withhold information regarding unverified information because it would be "irresponsible" to deploy assets to search areas based on speculation.

Security

MAS said that going forward, it will look into all aspects of psychological test for pilots including tightening and strengthening entry requirements. Now, the airline was operating on "Code Tango", which means security has already been heightened.