Land search for Malaysia Airlines plane begins as firm reveals aircraft had no 'issues with health'
Crew of Cathay Pacific Hong Kong-Kuala Lumpur bound flight reports large amount of debris was spotted off the coast of southeast Vietnam, says Hong Kong’s Civil Aviation Department
The hunt for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was widened in scope significantly on Tuesday to include a major land search, as the company revealed the plane was given a clean bill of health just 10 days before it vanished.
After drawing a blank for more than three days as to the aircraft's whereabouts, including the possibility that the plane may have veered off its usual trajectory, the search teams "expanded the scope beyond the flight path".
The hunt will now encompass a larger swathe of the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea, while the western coast of Malaysia and all the land between the two area is being scoured.
In a statement the airline said Tuesday that the B777-200 aircraft had undergone maintenance just 10 days before its disappearance, and no health issues had been found.
"The aircraft was delivered to Malaysia Airlines in 2002 and has since recorded 53,465.21 hours with a total of 7525 cycles," the statement said.
"The B777-200 aircraft that operated MH370 underwent maintenance 10 days before this particular flight on 6 March 2014.
"The maintenance was conducted at the KLIA hangar and there were no issues on the health of the aircraft."
