Malaysian police examine pilot's flight simulator for leads

Officials said police verifying personal, political and religious backgrounds of pilots and crew

Working on hijacking, sabotage and terrorism angles, Malaysian authorities today examined a flight simulator found at the home of the pilot of its missing plane and refocused their probe on the crew, passengers and ground staff based on "new leads" based on satellite data.

"The investigation is refocusing on the backgrounds of the passengers, pilots and even ground staff. The families of the pilot and co-pilot have been interviewed," Defence and Transport Minister Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told reporters as the search for Flight MH370 with 239 people on board entered the second week.

He said the search has entered a new phase. "The information released yesterday has produced new leads and given new directions to the search process" to trace the Boeing 777-200 aircraft that mysteriously vanished from radar screen on March 8.

Police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said they have dismantled the simulator and reassembled it in their office to examine it. "Investigations include possibility of hijack, sabotage and terrorism," he added.

Bakar said they are seeking background checks on all passengers from foreign counterparts but "there are still a few countries yet to respond to our requests". He said few foreign intelligence agencies, however, have cleared all the passengers.

Officials said police are verifying the personal, political and religious backgrounds of pilots and crew.

Malaysian Premier Najib Razak yesterday spoke to his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh and leaders of Bangladesh, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to discuss the matter, Hishammuddin said.

"The number of countries involved in the search and rescue operation has increased from 14 to 25, which brings new challenges of coordination and diplomacy to the search effort," he said.

As new information emerged that the communication system in the missing aircraft was deliberately disabled and its transponder switched off before the plane veered from its path, police focused their probe on pilot and co-pilot of the aircraft.

The house of Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, the pilot of the missing flight MH370, was searched shortly after Najib yesterday disclosed new information about the plane.

Officers spoke to family members of the 53-year-old pilot, who has 18,365 flight hours under his belt and is also a flight instructor. They also searched the home of co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid, 27.