120 interviewed over the past 11 months

19-member probe team worked ‘under the radar’

PETALING JAYA: For the past 11 months, the 19 members of the Malaysian ICAO Annex 13 Safety Investigation Team For MH370 have been working on the quiet to establish the facts on the plane’s disappearance.

In the course of its investigation, the team interviewed more than 120 people from the Department of Civil Aviation, Malaysia Airlines, next-ofkin of crew, refuellers, flight caterers, aircraft cleaners, cargo operators and loaders, freight-forwarders, suppliers and consignees.

It also carried out simulator sessions to re-construct the aircraft’s flight profile and systems operations.

The team visited cargo operators, freight-forwarders and consignees of lithium ion batteries and mangosteen fruit, local (Subang, Penang and Muar) and overseas (Beijing and Tianjin in China) for data collection and interviews.

It also took custody and reviewed aircraft maintenance records and recorded Air Traffic Control (ATC) communications and radar tape recordings.

Investigators were also sent to the Kuala Lumpur Air Traffic Control Centre, Subang, and Air Traffic Services Office, KLIA, along with other ATCs and civilian aviation authorities in the region.

The interim statement is on the progress of investigations up to March 7, 2015 and is based on the factual information gathered.

The investigation team will still need to analyse and draw conclusions and safety recommendations based on the information gathered in the months ahead.

Besides these activities, the investigation team also prepared standard operating procedures and checklists for investigation in preparation for the recovery of the aircraft once it is located.