Barack Obama, President of the United States of America said on Wednesday, 19th March, 2014 that Washington has placed the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner a top priority.
The AFP news agency quoted Obama as saying this in his first on-camera comments on the missing flight MH370 in an interview with Dallas television station KDFW at the White House.
“I want them to be assured that we consider this a top priority. We have put every resource that we have available at the disposal of the search process,” the president said.
According to KDFW’s website, the exclusive White Interview by FOX4’s Clarice Tinsley was held on Wednesday afternoon (local time).
AFP reports also said that during the interview, Obama mentioned about the close cooperation between Washington and Kuala Lumpur over the missing flight.
“There has been close cooperation with the Malaysian government,” said Obama.
The United States has deployed, among others, a P8 Poseidon and a P-3 Orion surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft in the search and rescue operation.
According to AFP, the President also said that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and agencies or officials involved in aviation were at the disposal of the investigators. NTSB is an independent federal agency authorised by Congress to investigate every civil aeronautics accident in America and significant accidents in other modes of transportation – railroad, highway, marine and pipeline.
President Obama expressed his deep sympathy to the family members of the passengers and crew of MH370.
“First of all we want to send out our thoughts and prayers to all of the families that have been affected, but particularly our American families, who I can only imagine what they’re going through with all of the uncertainty that’s taken place,” Obama said.
There were three Americans in the flight and one of them is Philip Wood, 50, of Keller, Texas.
The Beijing-bound Boeing 777-200ER aircraft, with 227 passengers and 12 crew on board, disappeared about an hour after leaving the Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 12.41 am on March 8th, 2014. It was scheduled to arrive in Beijing at 6.30 am the same day.
Malaysia has said that the search for the missing aircraft remains the government’s main priority focusing on diplomatic, technical and logistical challenges.
All 26 countries involved in the search and rescue (SAR) operation for the missing jetliner have verbally agreed to assist Malaysia, who had also sent formal written requests for their co-operation.
The search is now focused on two corridors, namely the northern corridor which stretches from the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to northern Thailand, and the southern corridor which stretches from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean.
