Arrest after Bali plane hijack alert must visit

Indonesian troops were waiting for the plane after the pilot reported a possible hijacking while in the air A passenger who caused a hijack scare on a flight from Australia to Indonesia has been arrested at Bali airport, officials say.

Virgin Australia said a passenger had been handcuffed by crew on the Boeing 737 after acting aggressively.

The flight from Brisbane was boarded by Indonesian troops on landing after reports that it had been hijacked.

Virgin blamed confusion around the incident on a "miscommunication" and said the passenger had been drunk.

The BBC's Karishma Vaswani in Indonesia said fears of a hijacking were caused after the pilot sent a distress signal to airport authorities.

"This is no hijacking, this is a miscommunication," Heru Sudjatmiko, a Virgin Australia official said.

"There was a drunk passenger, intoxicated and aggressively behaved. He was trying to enter the cockpit, banging the door but he did not enter the cockpit."

Crew members seized the passenger, who authorities identified as Matt Christopher, a 28-year-old from Australia.

Passengers on nearby aircraft saw the drama unfold and took photographs of the plane

An hour before landing in Bali, the plane's original destination, the pilot alerted traffic controllers to a possible hijacking on board, an Indonesian air force spokesman said.

Palani Mohan, a passenger on another flight that was about to take off from Bali, told AFP that the pilot of his plane announced the airport was in lockdown.

"The captain of my plane made an announcement saying we were delayed indefinitely because a hijack was going on in Bali airport, about 150 metres away from us."

"I saw at least five vehicles including military-style trucks, filled with men in uniform, rushing towards the plane," he said.

"Then the Virgin plane taxied away, followed by the convoy of security forces."

Police arrested the man shortly after the plane landed and all of the passengers were unharmed.

The airport was closed briefly but flights resumed shortly after the incident.

Virgin Australia Airlines, formerly Virgin Blue Airlines, is Australia's second-largest airline.

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UK ship in '24/7' missing plane hunt must visit

13 April 2014 Last updated at 10:59 HMS Echo's Commander Phillip Newell: ''This is the most challenging search that I have ever taken part in''

The crew of a Royal Navy ship are "working 24/7" to hunt for flight recorders from the missing Malaysian plane, their commander has said.

HMS Echo is helping to scour the southern Indian Ocean after Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 vanished with 239 people on board on 8 March.

Sonar "pings" were detected last week by search teams - but no new signals have been confirmed since last Tuesday.

Cdr Phillip Newell said the search was proving to be "challenging".

Plymouth-based hydrographic survey ship HMS Echo was diverted from gathering data on its way from Oman to the Seychelles to help in the search.

The ship, whose specialist equipment has been adapted to pick up signals from the plane's black box flight recorders, arrived in the search area on Thursday.

"I have a brilliant team, young, bright and enthusiastic and we are working 24/7 to cover the sea bed and observe on the surface," said Cdr Newell.

"There's a sense that we are playing an important part in this role and we are keen to get it right."

Australian defence vessel Ocean Shield has been using a US Navy towed pinger locator to listen out for signals, which were detected twice last weekend and twice on Tuesday.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he was confident the signals were from the black box - but on Saturday he warned those signals were "rapidly fading".

Prime Minister Abbott said finding the jet would be a "massive, massive task"

Cdr Newell - who has 20 years experience searching sea beds - said bad weather was also causing difficulties in interpreting the signals.

"It should never be underestimated that trying to find an object this small on the sea bed at this depth is probably as hard a challenge as you will ever get," he said.

Cdr Newell said it was "humbling" to be able to provide support to the international search effort HMS Echo's specialist equipment has been adapted to pick up sonar pings The UK is also aiding the search with nuclear submarine HMS Tireless

He said another challenge was directing Australian P-3 Orion aircraft which are dropping sound-locating buoys into the water.

Continue reading the main story 8 March: Malaysia Airlines Kuala Lumpur-Beijing flight carrying 239 people disappearsPlane's transponder, which communicates with ground radar, was switched off as it left Malaysian airspaceSatellite 'pings' indicate plane was still flying seven hours after satellite contact was lost24 March: Based on new calculations, Malaysian PM says "beyond reasonable doubt" that plane crashed in southern Indian Ocean with no survivors"It's key to make sure that we detect anything that can help in the investigation," said Cdr Newell, adding that the UK had "the right capability, in the right place at the right time".

Search teams are trying to pinpoint the source of the signals so they can send down a robotic submersible to look for wreckage and black boxes.

The UK's contribution to the search also includes nuclear submarine HMS Tireless, which has advanced underwater search capabilities.

Australia is overseeing the day-to-day operations via its newly created Joint Agency Coordination Centre. Eight countries are involved in the search.

As well as naval ships from the UK and Australia, investigators are using military aircraft from a host of countries and an ice-breaking research ship from China.

'Time running out'

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing when it lost contact with air traffic controllers last month.

Officials believe the plane flew off course for an unknown reason and went down off the west coast of Australia.

But those involved in the search believe time could be running out because the battery life of a black box usually lasts for only a month - and that window has passed.

Before arriving in the latest search area, HMS Echo had already searched 6,000 square miles (15,540 square km) of ocean 1,000 miles (1,609km) north-west of Perth.

Cdr Newell said the ship would continue to provide support until its tasking was reviewed later this month.

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Possible new signal in plane search must visit

The possible signal was detected by an Australia P-3 Orion searching the southern Indian Ocean A plane searching for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has detected a possible new signal in the southern Indian Ocean, Australian officials say.

An Australian P-3 Orion aircraft picked up the signal in the same area where an Australian vessel detected audio pings earlier this week, officials said.

The signal would require further analysis, but could have been from a "man-made source", officials said.

Flight MH370 vanished on 8 March, with 239 people on board.

The search zone was tightened on Thursday after a US navy "towed pinger locator" picked up audio signals in the area, sparking hopes that the plane's black box was in the area.

Australian vessel Ocean Shield picked up four acoustic signals in the area, twice over the weekend and twice on Tuesday.

Speaking after the latest possible signal was detected, retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, who is leading search efforts, said: "The acoustic data will require further analysis overnight but shows potential of being from a man-made source."

Hishammuddin Hussein: "I know there will be answers - I know we will find the plane - it's just a matter of when"

Up to 14 planes and 13 ships are involved in Thursday's search, scouring an area of 57,923 sq km (22 300 sq miles), around 2,280km (1,400 miles) north-west of Perth. It is the smallest designated area in the hunt to date.

Planes have dropped buoys equipped with hydrophone listening devices into the water to help pick up signals.

The batteries on the black box only last about a month, so teams need to work quickly to track the audio signals before they stop broadcasting.

'Nothing to hide'

Malaysia's acting transport minister has defended the investigation in an interview for BBC News, his first with a major Western broadcaster.

Hishammuddin Hussein said Malaysia had "nothing to hide", and he was "cautious" over the audio signals picked up by search teams.

"We've been following all sorts of leads from the South China Sea to the Straits of Malacca to the Andaman Sea," he said. "We have to be cautious because the families' emotions are still very raw and I've been through this rollercoaster ride."

Continue reading the main story 8 March: Malaysia Airlines Kuala Lumpur-Beijing flight carrying 239 people disappearsPlane's transponder, which communicates with ground radar, was switched off as it left Malaysian airspaceSatellite 'pings' indicate plane was still flying seven hours after satellite contact was lost24 March: Based on new calculations, Malaysian PM says "beyond reasonable doubt" that plane crashed in southern Indian Ocean with no survivorsMalaysia has come under criticism for its handling of the search, with families of the passengers on the plane accusing the authorities of a lack of transparency.

The investigation came under further scrutiny after it emerged that the final words from the plane were "good night Malaysian three seven zero", and not "all right, good night", as previously reported by the government.

However, Hishammuddin Hussein defended his handling of the search, saying the transcript had been released and the discrepancy in the words didn't "really matter".

"We have formed the committees, international experts are on board, we've got panels of inquiries [on the search]," he said. "Malaysia has got nothing to hide."

He added that the full cost of the search for the plane, and which countries would bear the cost, were not yet clear, but that the search cost was "peanuts" compared to the costs of other international crises.

"How much is Ukraine costing everybody?" he asked. "How much has it been for Syria and it's still unfolding? How much does it cost the people of Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Iraq? Not only in dollars and cents but in lives. Here it is peanuts."

Officials say satellite data show the plane, which was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, ended up in the southern Indian Ocean, far from its original flight path.

Investigators still do not know why MH370 strayed so far off course, after disappearing over the South China Sea between Malaysia and Vietnam.

The backgrounds of both passengers and crew have been scrutinised as officials consider hijacking, sabotage, pilot action or mechanical failure as possible causes.

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Plane search signal 'important lead'/must visit

 6. April 2014 Letzte Änderung um 07:46, die zweites Impuls-Signal weniger als 2 km (1,2 km) vom Original erkannt wurde

Australische Koordinatoren bei der Suche nach einer fehlenden malaysischen Ebene sagen, dass ein chinesisches Schiff ein Impuls-Signal für ein zweites Mal, innerhalb von Stunden davon gehört früher am Samstag entdeckt hat.

Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston bezeichnet die Entdeckung im südlichen Indischen Ozean eine "wichtige und ermutigende Blei".

Er warnte, dass die Daten noch nicht überprüft wurden.

Britischen Kriegsschiffes HMS Echo segelt auf den Bereich, weiter zu untersuchen.

Es wird erwartet, in den frühen Morgenstunden des Montag ankommen.

Lesen Sie die Hauptgeschichte

Angesichts der Tatsache, dass kein einziges Stück Trümmer aus dem vermissten Flugzeug gefunden wurde, wäre es bemerkenswert, wenn das chinesische Schiff geschafft hatte, in Signale aus der Blackbox-Flugschreiber ohne eine wirkliche Vorstellung von stolpern, wo das Flugzeug abgestürzt.

Einige werden gefragt, ob die Chinesen mehr wissen als sie lassen auf.

Aber zu diesem Zeitpunkt drängen australische Beamten Vorsicht. Sie scheinen ermutigt durch die Tatsache, dass Signale offenbar waren auf zwei aufeinander folgende Tage nur wenige Kilometer voneinander entfernt.

Aber sie sind betont gäbe es viele solche führt in den kommenden Tagen, die zu nichts führen.

Australische Flugzeuge waren auch unterwegs, Air Chief Marshal Houston sagte Reportern. Australische Marine Schiff Ocean Shield würde zu den letzten Suchbereich vorangehen, wenn es eine dritte akustische Erkennung an anderer Stelle untersucht hatte.

HMS Echo und ADV Ocean Shield haben Technologie Unterwasser Daten Recorder ausgestrahlte Signale zu erkennen.

Malaysia-Airlines-Flug MH370 verschwand am 8 März mit 239 Menschen an Bord. Forscher glauben, dass es im Indischen Ozean stürzte, obwohl keine bestätigten Trümmer gefunden wurde. Das batteriebetriebene Signal aus der "Black Box"-Recordern wird nach 30 Tagen.

Vorsicht aufgefordert

Nach der Bestätigung der Informationen über die ersten Pulse erkannt auf Samstag hatte die "Merkmale entsprechen" eines Flugzeugs Flugschreiber, Air Chief Marshal Houston sagte ein Nachrichten-Briefing auf Pearce Air Base in der Nähe von Perth über ein zweites Signal.

"[Samstag] am Nachmittag Perth Zeit, gab es eine andere akustische Erkennung weniger als 2 km (1,2 km) vom Original."

Das zweite Signal ca. 90 Sekunden dauerte, sagte er.

Das Signal, die angeblich von Haixun 01 erkannt hatte die gleiche Frequenz wie die Strahlungsbelastung Flugschreiber

Suche co-Ordinator bestand darauf, die neuesten Entwicklungen sollten behandelt werden, als ungeprüfte "so lange bis wir eine eindeutige Bestimmung anbieten können".

"Wir arbeiten in einem sehr großen Ozean und innerhalb eines sehr großen Suchgebiet und bisher seit das Flugzeug vermisst haben hatten wir nur sehr wenige führt, die uns erlauben, den Suchbereich einschränken", sagte er.

Richard Westcott berichtet über die Verwendung von ein Pinger-Locator, eine Black Box zu finden

"Ich versichere Ihnen, dass wir-up Follow und Auspuff jede glaubwürdige Führung, die wir erhalten."

Ein Dutzend Militärflugzeuge und 13 Schiffen suchen bereits drei Bereiche rund 2.000 Kilometer (1.240 Meilen) nordwestlich von der australischen Stadt Perth.

Sie deckt etwa 216.000 sq km am Sonntag.

Australischer Politiker und Premierminister Tony Abbott früher hieß er "hoffnungsvoll aber keineswegs sicher", die das Signal erkannt am Samstag war mit fehlenden Flug MH370 verbunden.

Haixun 01 hob das erste so genannte "Ping"-Signal bei ca. 25 Grad südlicher Breite und 101 Grad östlicher Länge, staatlichen Xinhua Nachrichtenagentur sagte.

Lesen Sie die Hauptgeschichte 8 März: Malaysia Airlines Kuala Lumpur-Peking Flug 239 Menschen DisappearsPlane Transponder, die mit Bodenradar kommuniziert, wurde abgeschaltet, als es in Malaysia AirspaceSatellite Links "Pings" Flugzeug flog noch sieben Stunden zeigen nach Satelliten Kontakt verloren ging24 März: basierend auf neue Berechnungen, Malaysier/in PM sagt "Beyond reasonable Doubt", das Flugzeug stürzte in südlichen Indischen Ozean ohne SurvivorsThe-Signal hatte angeblich eine Frequenz von 37,5 kHz - identisch mit dem von den Flug emittierte Recorder.

Drei Personen auf dem Boot waren, sagte die Pings gehört zu haben, die nicht aufgenommen wurden, als sie plötzlich.

Xinhua berichtete auch, dass ein chinesisches Militärflugzeug eine Reihe von weißen unverankerte Objekte ca. 90 km entfernt ein paar Stunden zuvor ausgemacht hatten.

Flug MH370 verschwand von Kuala Lumpur nach Peking vor vier Wochen unterwegs.

Malaysia verkündete bereits, dass es eingerichtet hatte drei Ministerien-Ausschüsse koordinieren helfen, die Suche und einer neuen Ermittlungsgruppe aus Australien, China, den USA, Großbritannien und Frankreich gehören würde.

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Chinese ships search new plane zone/must visit

 29 March 2014 Last updated at 12:46 Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on the latest debris sightings

Chinese ships are scouring a new search area of the Indian Ocean in the hunt for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet.

The two vessels are trying to find and retrieve a number of items spotted by planes on Friday.

Chinese aircraft also flew on Saturday over the area, north-east of the previous zone, and have spotted more objects, Xinhua state news agency said.

Beijing-bound flight MH370 disappeared after taking off from Kuala Lumpur on 8 March with 239 people on board.

Chinese patrol ship Haixun 01, and a navy vessel, Jinggangshan, which carries two helicopters, reached the new search area in the past few hours.

The BBC's Jon Donnison spent the day with Australian air crews looking for the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370,

Xinhua said the Jinggangshan was expected to focus on searching for debris, oil slicks and life jackets.

Eight aircraft are also taking part in the operation, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa) Amsa said in its latest statement.

Later on Saturday one of them, a Chinese reconnaissance aircraft, spotted three orange, white and red objects floating in the ocean. Some were very small, and officials have cautioned that they may be sea junk.

Continue reading the main story

Did previous photos show plane debris?

Satellite images so far could show anything from lost shipping containers or drifting garbage to fragments of Flight MH370Among ocean experts, opinion differs over how much non-plane debris is in the areaSouthern Indian Ocean is one of world's least researched areasIn absence of better data, retrieving floating debris can help narrow search for "black box" recordersBut shortage of live satellite data, turbulence and passage of time since flight's disappearance hamper search for debrisOn Friday five search planes spotted multiple objects of various colours in the same area - about 1,100km (700 miles) north-east of the previous search zone.

Investigators will not know whether the objects are connected to the missing plane until they have been recovered by ships.

Bad weather has hampered the search efforts in recent days.

Saturday's conditions are expected to be favourable initially but to deteriorate later in the day.

Meanwhile Malaysia's acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein says he has reassured the families of the missing passengers that the search for any survivors will continue.

Some relatives of the flight's 153 Chinese passengers have refused to accept the Malaysian account of events and have accused officials of withholding information.

Acting Malaysian Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein: "If there is any lead or information that involves survivors, that has been our priority"

"No matter how remote the search, I am always hoping against hope that we will find survivors," Mr Hishammuddin told the latest news conference following a meeting with the families on Saturday.

Burning more fuel

The Australian and Malaysian governments said on Friday the search area had been changed following further analysis of radar data that showed the plane had been travelling faster, thus burning more fuel.

This would reduce the possible distance the aircraft travelled south into the Indian Ocean, officials said.

Search efforts had until Friday morning focused on an area some 2,500km (1,550 miles) to the south-west of the Australian city of Perth.

The Chinese patrol ship Haixun 01 has started searching the new area Relatives of Chinese passengers have been anxiously waiting for news of their loved ones

Malaysian officials have concluded that, based on satellite data, the missing plane flew into the sea somewhere in the southern Indian Ocean. So far no trace of it has been found.

Continue reading the main story 8 March - Malaysia Airlines Kuala Lumpur-Beijing flight carrying 239 people disappearsPlane's transponder, which gives out location data, was switched off as it left Malaysian airspaceSatellite 'pings' indicate plane was still flying seven hours after satellite contact was lost24 March - Based on new calculations, Malaysian PM says "beyond reasonable doubt" that plane crashed in southern Indian Ocean with no survivorsVarious theories about what went wrong have been suggested - including the captain hijacking his own plane.

The speculation was fuelled by reports that files had been deleted on the pilot's home flight simulator.

However Mr Hishimmuddin said investigators who had looked at the equipment had turned up no new information.

"There is nothing sinister from the simulators but of course that will have to be confirmed by the chief of police,'' he said.

Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 vanished less than an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur.

The airliner diverted off course and lost contact with air traffic controllers between Malaysian and Vietnamese air-traffic control areas.

The vast expanse of ocean has turned the search into a major challenge.

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