Missing Malaysian Airlines jet: Almost Rs. 800 crore to be spent on search and rescue operations!

Kuala Lumpur: As the desperate search for the missing flight MH 370 entered the eleventh day, Malaysia further expanded its search and for obvious reasons, the costs are rising. Some analysts said that the outlay could run beyond Rs. 800 crore, adding that this could be far beyond the most expensive aviation investigations in history. Unfortunately, it comes at a time when Malaysians have been grappling with the rising cost of living, with some even taking to the streets in protest, but for the government, the priority is to find the missing flight. The country has put in its dozens of vessels and aircraft which are scouring land and sea to find the missing plane. Government-owned Malaysia Airlines has also spared no expense. Families of all the missing passengers are being given $5,000 in financial assistance on top of food, lodging, counselling and more as they wait for the news. Malaysian Deputy Finance Minister Ahmad Maslan said, “Currently the priority of the government is to find the aircraft and there is no qualm about extra costs involved. The most important (thing) is to find the aircraft.” An estimated of $50 million was spent on investigations when an Air France plane disappeared in 2009. Analysts say that Malaysia could end up spending much more if the plane isn't found soon. About a dozen of countries have joined the search operation, offering all the assistance while the search for flight MH370 expands even further. Meanwhile, a United Nation-backed nuclear watchdog has said that it did not detect either any explosion or crash that could be linked to the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, amid continued speculation over fate of the aircraft. “Regarding the missing Malaysian Airlines flight... the Vienna-based Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) confirmed that neither an explosion nor a plane crash on land or on water had been detected so far,” spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Stephane Dujarric told reporters on Monday. Earlier, there were reports that the pilot of the jet might himself have hijacked the plane to mark his protest against the ruling government. Reports of flight MH370’s pilot having a hand in its disappearance came hours after air traffic controllers in Kolkata ruled out the possibility that the plane has flown over Indian airspace, a possibility pointed out by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak at a presser in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday. The flight MH370 carrying 239 people have been missing since March 8 and a multi-national search has so far shed little light on where the plane could have landed or crashed.