马来西亚否认就失踪飞机提供前后矛盾的信息

Malaysian officials are denying accusations they have provided inconsistent information on a missing jetliner with 239 people on board, as the search for the plane entered its fifth day.

Transport Minister Seri Hishammuddin said Malaysia is dealing with an "unprecedented" situation and will do "whatever it takes" to find the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 that went missing Saturday.

"My heart reaches out to the families of the passengers and crew, and I give you my assurance that we will not reduce the tempo and that we will not spare any effort to find the missing plane."

At a news conference Wednesday, the minister said 42 ships and 39 aircraft from 12 countries have so far "found nothing" in their search, which now spans over 50,000 kilometers.

He said the focus is both on the South China Sea, where the plane was last tracked by civilian air traffic controllers, and the Strait of Malacca, which is across the Malaysian peninsula and several hundred kilometers away.

Earlier Wednesday, the Malaysian military backed away from statements that it last tracked the plane in the strait, which is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world.

At the news conference, a military official said the plane may have been spotted on radar at 2:15 a.m. Saturday local time 320 kilometers northwest of the Malaysian island of Penang. But, the official said, he cannot be sure it was indeed the flight in question.

If the plane did make it to the Strait of Malacca, it would call into question theories that the jet experienced some sort of sudden catastrophic event shortly after takeoff that prevented pilots from communicating with authorities.

The plane disappeared from civilian radar without any distress calls about an hour after leaving Kuala Lumpur en route to Beijing early Saturday, when weather conditions appeared to be clear.

马来西亚交通部部长希山慕丁•侯赛因说，马拉西亚处理的是“前所未有的情况”，他们将“不惜一切代价”找到失踪客机。

他说：“我很同情乘客和机组人员的亲属，我向你们保证，我们不会放缓步伐，我们将不遗余力地搜寻失踪的飞机。”

这位交通部长在星期三的记者会上说，12个国家派遣42艘船只和39架飞机在5万平方公里的范围内进行搜寻，但到目前为止一无所获。

他说，搜索范围主要在南中国海海域和马六甲海峡。马六甲海峡位于马来西亚半岛以西，距离民航空中飞行管制人员与该班机失去联系的位置数百公里。

马来西亚军方曾表示，他们在雷达屏幕上看到过失联飞机，飞机当时的位置是马六甲海峡，但是军方星期三收回了这个说法。
马来西亚军方在星期三的记者会上说，他们可能在当地时间星期六凌晨2点15分在雷达屏幕上看到飞机，飞机的位置在马来西亚槟城岛西北320公里处，但不能确定那就是失踪的马航班机。 

如果这架班机确曾飞到马六甲海峡上空，有关班机起飞后不久便突发某种灾难性事件、以至驾驶员无法与有关当局联络的说法就会受到质疑。

这架班机星期六凌晨离开吉隆坡飞往北京，大约一个小时后，在没有发出呼救信号的情况下在民用雷达上消失，看来当时天气晴朗。