The search area for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet now spans "large tracts of land crossing 11 countries as well as deep and remote oceans," according to Malaysian government officials, who reached out to 25 countries about whether they had any contact with the plane and asked for help in the search.
Those countries include Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, China, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, and Australia. India suspended its search around the Andaman and Nicobar Islands as well as the Bay of Bengal after finding no hits for the plane on its radar, a spokesman for the country's military said today.
"We are asking countries that have satellite assets, including the U.S., China and France, amongst others, to provide further satellite data, and we are contacting additional countries who may be able to contribute specific assets relevant to the search and rescue operation," Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, who is also Malaysia’s minister of defense, said during a news conference.
ABC News
The search area for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 now includes two corridors: one stretching from approximately the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to northern Thailand and another stretching across Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean.
Both the northern and southern corridors - which span from Kazakhstan to the southern Indian Ocean - are being treated with equal importance, said Hussein. But sources told ABC News the southern corridor is more likely the path that the plane took because of radar capabilities and air defenses of countries in the northern corridor, which include nuclear-armed states.
One source close to the investigation told ABC News the search will concentrate in the southern Indian Ocean a thousand miles off the coast of Australia.
Investigators are also examining the flight simulator in the home of Capt. Zaharie Ahmad Shah, the 53-year-old pilot of the missing plane, who has been described as an affluent aviation buff with more than 18,000 hours of experience in the air. Police spoke with his family members during their visit to his home Saturday, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said today.
Police also searched the home of his co-pilot, Fariq Abdul Hamid, 27, who joined Malaysia Airlines in 2007 and has 2,000 hours of flying time.
The pair did not ask to fly together, according to the airline.
The details of Malaysian officials' investigation of the pilot and co-pilot comes as two senior law enforcement officials told ABC News that U.S. law enforcement and intelligence officials are focusing on the possibility that at least one of the Malaysia Airlines pilots is responsible for the disappearance of flight MH 370 after new information revealed the plane performed "tactical evasion maneuvers" after it disappeared from radar.
U.S. authorities believe only a person with extensive flight or engineering experience could have executed the maneuvers. They also are suspicious of what appeared to be attempts to evade radar.
MORE: A Timeline of What Happened to MH370
After the plane's transponder -- which reports the plane's location and altitude -- was turned off about 1:20 a.m. last Saturday, the plane was picked up by military radar as it turned back towards Malaysia and passed above Peninsular Malaysia before heading into the Strait of Malacca.
Razak said Saturday that "these movements are consistent with deliberate action by someone on the plane."
After a week of scrutinizing passengers and the crew, one of the officials said there were no indications anyone besides the pilots had the ability to perform the complicated maneuvers done by the plane. Furthermore, officials said they have found no link between the passengers and known terrorist groups and that the plane could have been flown into a densely populated area if the incident was related to terrorism -- but it wasn't.
Another possibility that can't be ruled out is that the pilots were coerced or made to redirect the plane by force.
ABC News aviation expert and former Marine Corps fighter pilot Steve Ganyard said it's possible that the movements made by the plane could mean it was piloted by amateurs not used to flying at night.
Ganyard said a person trying to fly a plane without lights or a horizon could make random turns that may appear to be evasive but were just accidental.
"[A hijacker could] tell the pilot 'turn the transponder off' and hold a gun to his head," Ganyard said. "They could advertently fly out to sea hoping to see some to land to go towards."
Ganyard also noted that the hijackers of United Flight 93 on Sept. 11 raised and lowered the altitude to try and stop the passengers who were storming the cockpit.
Still, Malaysian officials are investigating all crew and passengers, as well as “all ground staff handling the aircraft,” said Hussein.
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