CHINA: A commanding officer of the U.S. Navy 7th fleet docked at Hong Kong port says search for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane is getting harder as time passes and search area expands

Record ID: 858288

  • Title: CHINA: A commanding officer of the U.S. Navy 7th fleet docked at Hong Kong port says search for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane is getting harder as time passes and search area expands
  • Date: 12th March 2014
  • Summary: HONG KONG, CHINA (MARCH 12, 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF USS BLUE RIDGE, COMMAND SHIP OF U.S. SEVENTH FLEET AMERICAN FLAG COMMANDER WILLIAM MARKS, PUBLIC AFFAIR OFFICER OF U.S. SEVENTH FLEET, STANDING NEXT TO SIGN WITH WORDS READING (ENGLISH): USS BLUE RIDGE DECK OF USS BLUE RIDGE NAVY OFFICER STANDING NEXT TO GUN ON DECK SAILORS VARIOUS OF SIGN WITH WORDS (ENGLISH): UNITED STATES SEVENTH FLEET MARKS SPEAKING TO REPORTERS REPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) COMMANDER WILLIAM MARKS, PUBLIC AFFAIR OFFICER OF U.S. SEVENTH FLEET, SAYING: "Time is not on our side. As every hour goes by, the search area gets bigger and bigger. From a typical standpoint, a person can survive in the water for at least 72 hours due to sheer willpower. A human being can survive without food or water if they are determined to survive. After that the chances of survival get less and less, and that's what we're concerned with right now." VARIOUS OF HELICOPTERS ON DECK OF USS BLUE RIDGE VARIOUS OF SIGN WITH WORD (ENGLISH) "RESCUE" ON HELICOPTER (SOUNDBITE) (English) COMMANDER WILLIAM MARKS, PUBLIC AFFAIR OFFICER OF U.S. SEVENTH FLEET, SAYING: "For the helicopters and the ships, that are much closer to the water, that is very difficult, because you cannot see a person or a small piece of debris in the water when the waves are so high. So for that reason it's become more difficult." VARIOUS OF NAVY OFFICER LOOKING THROUGH BINOCULARS
  • Embargoed: 27th March 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • City:
  • Country: China
  • Topics: International Relations,Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
  • Reuters ID: LVACI28JQOH2J4D3L8VSY6J908DT
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: A spokesman for the U.S. Navy Seventh Fleet docked at Hong Kong port said on Wednesday (March 12) that the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane is getting harder as it has remained missing for over 100 hours.
    Commander William Marks told media during a port visit to Hong Kong that as time passed, the mission has become more difficult.

    "Time is not on our side. As every hour goes by, the search area gets bigger and bigger. From a typical standpoint, a person can survive in the water for at least 72 hours due to sheer willpower. A human being can survive without food or water if they are determined to survive. After that the chances of survival get less and less, and that's what we're concerned with right now," Marks said.

    "For the helicopters and the ships, that are much closer to the water, that is very difficult, because you cannot see a person or small piece of debris in the water when the waves are so high. So for that reason it's become more difficult," he added.
    The massive search has drawn in navies, military aircraft, coast guard and civilian vessels from 10 nations. The U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers the Pinckney and Kidd are taking part in the search.
    So far all the efforts have failed to turn up any trace of the Boeing 777-200ER that vanished about an hour into a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing early on Saturday (March 8).
    The search was widened on Tuesday to a larger swathe of the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea, around where the plane lost radio contact and vanished from radar screens.
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