More than three million people have joined a satellite search for the Malaysia Airlines plane that went missing more than a week ago.The satellite firm DigitalGlobe said Monday that in a crowd-sourcing platform provided by the company the participants have looked at satellite imagery to help locate the plane.
DigitalGlobe also said the search area covers some 24,000 square kilometers (9,000 square miles) with more images being added every day, including a new region in the Indian Ocean.
According to the satellite firm, participants have tagged 2.9 million areas in some 257 million map views.
Meanwhile, chief executive of Malaysia Airlines, Ahmad Jauhair Yahy, said Monday that the co-pilot of the flight spoke the last words to air traffic controllers before the plane disappeared.
However, Yahy said it was not clear whether the last words came before or after one of the tracking devices of the aircraft was switched off.
Senior Malaysian civil aviation officials believe the communications systems were deliberately disabled. Investigators are looking into the possibility that the aircrafts crew were involved in its disappearance.
Malaysian authorities say the passenger plane was intentionally diverted and could have flown on either a northern or southern arc from its last known position.
A senior police official says they are now focusing on the pilots and anyone else on board with technical flying knowledge as well as running background checks on all passengers and ground crew.
Meanwhile, Malaysian Defense and Transport Minister Hishamuddin Hussein has called on more countries to join the search mission for the airliner.
The commercial plane with 239 passengers and crew aboard went missing on March 8, while flying from Kuala Lumpur to the Chinese capital, Beijing.
By Press TV
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