Obama Finally Says Something About MH370 In His First On-Camera Interview
The U.S. is in close cooperation with Malaysian officials in the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines 777, President Obama said Wednesday.
By Sadho Ram — 20 Mar 2014, 07:14 PM — Updated almost 11 years ago
On 19 March 2014, US President Barack Obama, in his first on-camera comments on the missing MAS plane, said that Washington has placed the search for MH370 as a 'top priority'
US President Barack Obama on March 19, 2014 said the search for the missing MH370 plane was a ‘top priority’ for the US
Image via themalaymailonline.com“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 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.
During the exclusive White House interview, Obama also mentioned about the close cooperation between Washington and Kuala Lumpur over MH370
“There has been close cooperation with the Malaysian government,” said Obama.
themalaymailonline.com
The United States has deployed, among others, a P8 Poseidon and a P-3 Orion surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft in the search operation.
Obama said that the FBI, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and agencies or officials involved in aviation were at the disposal of the investigators
The US President's comments come after it was confirmed the FBI was officially helping with the investigation
Image via mirror.co.ukSpeaking to a Fox News affiliate, the US leader said there had been "close cooperation" with the Malaysian government, and "anybody who typically deals with anything related to our aviation system is available".
The FBI, through its legal office in Kuala Lumpur, "continues to engage with appropriate Malaysian authorities and provide support where necessary to the Malaysian government in their investigation of the missing aircraft", according to a statement issued on Wednesday.
mirror.co.ukThe NTSB is an independent federal agency sanctioned by Congress to investigate every civil aviation accident in the U.S. and significant accidents in other modes of transportation-railroad, highway, marine and pipeline.
He also expressed his deep sympathy to the family members of the passengers and crew onboard MH370
A family member of missing relative on Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 from China breaks down as she speaks to the media at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia March 19, 2014.
Image via wordpress.com“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 in the interview.
time.com
There were three Americans in the flight, one of whom is 50-year-old Philip Wood from Texas, working in IBM Malaysia
This handout photo provided by the Wood family shows Philip Wood, an IBM executive
Image via gannett-cdn.comThe Beijing-bound Boeing 777-200ER aircraft, with 227 passengers and 12 crew on board, disappeared about an hour after leaving the KL International Airport in Sepang at 12.41 am on March 8. It was scheduled to arrive in Beijing at 6.30 am the same day.
Earlier, White House spokesman Jay Carney said Malaysia was also speaking to US aviation and transport accident investigation agencies
"We are finding that the level of co-operation with the Malaysian government is solid, and we are working closely with the Malaysians as well as our other international partners in this effort to find out what happened to the plane and why it happened," he said.