Astana, Kazakhstan, March 17
By Daniyar Mukhtarov - Trend:
The missing Malaysian airplane did not fly over Kazakhstan, Deputy Chairman of the Civil Aviation Committee of the Kazakh Ministry of Transport and Communications, Serik Muhtybaev said on March 17.
"The information on the aircraft possibly flying to Kazakhstan is not reliable. Some nine flights of Malaysian Airlines proceeded in transit through the territories of Kazakhstan, according to Kazakhstan's air navigation service provider, Kazaeronavigatsia on March 8. There were no any other flights.
In theory, before reaching Kazakhstan, it had to fly over other countries along the way, as there is controlled zone everywhere. The information primarily would be in these countries. Therefore the availability, flight or location of this airplane in the territory of Kazakhstan is not confirmed," Muhtybaev said.
No formal requests to the aeronautical authorities of Kazakhstan by the Malaysian side on organising a search and rescue operation has been reported, he said.
At the moment, there is no information that the aircraft flew to the territory of our country, according to the deputy chairman.
The Boeing 777 of Malaysia Airlines, flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing disappeared from the air traffic control radar on the night of March 8, 2014. Some 227 passengers and 12 crew members were on the board.
The crew no longer kept in touch and did not give a distress signal. However, the weather en route was good. The airplane was 220 kilometres off the east coast of Malaysia during the last contact.
As Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak stated earlier, the airliner could move further in two directions, according to radar.
"Based on the new data, the aircraft's position can be determined in one of two corridors from the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to the north of Thailand, or to the south of Indonesia from the south of the Indian Ocean," he said.
Translated by S.I.
Edited by S.M.