Excellent cooperation from Malaysia on missing plane: US

They however added that they had no new information to provide about what happened to the plane

The US is getting excellent co-operation from Malaysia on the missing plane, with America helping Malaysian authorities in both the investigations and search of the jetliner, the White House has said.

"We are assisting in a variety of ways. We, the United States are providing assistance through the FAA and the NTSB, and through the FBI. We are receiving excellent cooperation from the Malaysian government, which has the lead obviously in both the search and in the investigation," White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters abroad Air Force One.

The US, he said yesterday, has no new information or conclusions to provide about what happened to the plane.

"We're obviously assisting in the search in the Indian Ocean in the areas that the (Malaysian) Prime Minister outlined over the weekend. And in case you were going to ask me about the reports of the debris, I just have no updates on that except that we're participating in the search as a general matter," he said.

"We, in the Pentagon, have made it a priority to try to help the Malaysian government here. We are mindful that there are more than 200 families out there that are grieving and they want answers, and we understand that, and we're doing what we can. And we're not the only nation doing what we can," Pentagon press secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby said.

"We are putting as much effort into it across the scope of our capabilities as is needed," he said, without going into the specifics of each and every one of those tools.

"But I can assure you that, when the Malaysians are asking for help, when they're asking for information, when they're asking for whatever data that can be provided, if we can provide it, if we can help them, we are helping them," he said at a separate news conference.

The focus from a US military perspective is fixed-wing, long-range search aircraft, reconnaissance aircraft -- the P-8 and the P-3 from the United States Navy, he said.

"That's what we're providing now because that's what the Malaysian government asked us to provide. That could change over time, and if it does, we'll adjust," he added.

The State Department said the US has put every necessary resource that we have available at the disposal of the search process.

"The Malaysian Government has the lead. I know there has also been reports of objects found in the Indian Ocean and efforts to pursue that. We are assisting the search efforts as part of a broad team of international partners. We have a P-8 Poseidon searching that specific area," State Department Deputy Spokesperson Jen Psaki said.

The Malaysian plane mysteriously went missing early this month on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers on board.