MH370 crash: CNN’s Richard Quest defends handling of case by Malaysian govt

(The Star) – CNN’s aviation and airline correspondent Richard Quest (pic)has defended the Malaysian Government’s handling of the MH370 case, calling the incident “unprecedented”.

In a series of tweets from his account @RichardQuest, the news presenter said that while mistakes had been made, the circumstances were unique.

“Mistakes have been made in the investigation #MH370 by the Malaysians to be sure BUT this incident is unprecedented,” he tweeted.

“The National Transportation Safety Board, the Federal Aviation Agency, the Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses, the Air Accidents Investigation Bureau are all accredited and taking part.

“It’s silly to suggest that only first world countries should investigate. Worse, it is wrong. The Malaysians are in unique circumstances,” posted the aviation expert early Tuesday.

Quest added that “no-one in their right mind” would have expected the missing jetliner to have flown so far in the opposite direction “without any radar or warning”.

“The Malaysians would be damned if they did release info and damned if they don’t,” he said.

“It is ridiculous to pretend this investigation has been a disaster. The big question is how the Malaysian military missed it going back across the country.”

MH 370 went missing March 8 enroute from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. It carried 239 passengers and crew.

On Monday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced that MH370 was lost in the southern Indian Ocean and all on board feared dead.