M'sia seeks help from 25 nations as search widens

[KUALA LUMPUR] Malaysian authorities have asked 25 countries to support the hunt for a missing passenger jet as it prepared to extend the search to an area stretching from Kazakhstan in the north to the three-kilometre deep waters off Australia in the south.

"The search area has been significantly expanded and the nature of the search has changed," Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said at a press conference yesterday in Kuala Lumpur. "From focusing mainly on shallow seas, we are now looking at large tracts of land, crossing 11 countries, as well as deep, remote oceans."

Satellite transmissions that weren't turned off along with other communications systems showed Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 operated for almost seven hours after last making contact with air traffic controllers on March 8, Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Saturday. That may have taken the Boeing Co 777-200 about 5,000 km from where it was last tracked west of Malaysia and pushed it to the limits of its fuel load if it was airborne the whole period.