Principal defends pilot over terrorism claim
BernamaPublished: Mar 31, 2014 7:53 AM | Updated: Mar 31, 2014 8:00 AM
MH370 The principal of Penang Free School (PFS) today came to the defence of the pilot of a lost Malaysian airliner.
Jalil Saad said Capt Zaharie Ahmad Shah, pilot of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH370 which disappeared on March 8, should not be held 'solely responsible' for what happened.
Reporters from Cable News Network (CNN) and The Asian Wall Street Journal (AWSJ) came to the school last week during the school holidays to obtain information about Zaharie, said Jalil, who was a school-mate of Zaharie in the 1970s.
"I told them (CNN and AWSJ) that I do not agree with their previous reports, especially CNN which portrayed a negative image of Zaharie and linked him to terrorists," he told reporters after the Monday morning assembly at the school.
He said Capt Zaharie, two years his junior at school, was an ambitious man and had worked hard to achieve his dream of becoming a pilot.
"I hope all foreign media do not speculate about Zaharie until investigations into the mysterious and unprecedented aviation tragedy are completed," he said.
At the assembly, the teachers and 1,045 students of PFS, the oldest school in Southeast Asia, observed a minute's silence as a mark of respect for the passengers and crew of Flight MH370.
The school also lowered the Malaysian flag to half-mast.
Flight MH370, carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew, left the KL International Airport at 12.41 am on March 8 and disappeared from radar screens about an hour later while over the South China Sea. It was to have landed in Beijing at 6.30 am on the same day.
A multinational search was mounted for the aircraft, first in the South China Sea and then, after it was learned that the plane had veered off course, along two corridors - the northern corridor stretching from the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to northern Thailand and the southern corridor, from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean.
Following an unprecedented type of analysis of satellite data, United Kingdom satellite telecommunications company Inmarsat and the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) concluded that Flight MH370 flew along the southern corridor and that its last position was in the middle of the Indian Ocean, west of Perth, Australia.
Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak then announced on March 24, seventeen days after the disappearance of the flight, that it "ended in the southern Indian Ocean".
- Bernama
Jalil Saad said Capt Zaharie Ahmad Shah, pilot of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH370 which disappeared on March 8, should not be held 'solely responsible' for what happened.
Reporters from Cable News Network (CNN) and The Asian Wall Street Journal (AWSJ) came to the school last week during the school holidays to obtain information about Zaharie, said Jalil, who was a school-mate of Zaharie in the 1970s.
"I told them (CNN and AWSJ) that I do not agree with their previous reports, especially CNN which portrayed a negative image of Zaharie and linked him to terrorists," he told reporters after the Monday morning assembly at the school.
He said Capt Zaharie, two years his junior at school, was an ambitious man and had worked hard to achieve his dream of becoming a pilot.
"I hope all foreign media do not speculate about Zaharie until investigations into the mysterious and unprecedented aviation tragedy are completed," he said.
At the assembly, the teachers and 1,045 students of PFS, the oldest school in Southeast Asia, observed a minute's silence as a mark of respect for the passengers and crew of Flight MH370.
The school also lowered the Malaysian flag to half-mast.
Flight MH370, carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew, left the KL International Airport at 12.41 am on March 8 and disappeared from radar screens about an hour later while over the South China Sea. It was to have landed in Beijing at 6.30 am on the same day.
A multinational search was mounted for the aircraft, first in the South China Sea and then, after it was learned that the plane had veered off course, along two corridors - the northern corridor stretching from the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to northern Thailand and the southern corridor, from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean.
Following an unprecedented type of analysis of satellite data, United Kingdom satellite telecommunications company Inmarsat and the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) concluded that Flight MH370 flew along the southern corridor and that its last position was in the middle of the Indian Ocean, west of Perth, Australia.
Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak then announced on March 24, seventeen days after the disappearance of the flight, that it "ended in the southern Indian Ocean".
- Bernama
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