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The last communication received from a Malaysia Airlines plane suggests everything was normal
on board minutes before it went missing over the South China Sea, Malaysian authorities
say. Flight MH370 replied "All right, roger that"
to a radio message from Malaysian air control, authorities said.
The search has been widened to waters off both sides of the peninsula.
Malaysia's air force chief has denied reports the plane was tracked to the Malacca Strait
in the west. The China-bound plane went missing on Saturday
with 239 people on board. It vanished about an hour after it took off
from Kuala Lumpur International Airport, as it flew over the South China Sea, south of
Vietnam's Ca Mau peninsula. No distress signal or message was sent.
'Confusing' information Malaysian authorities revealed the plane's
last communication at a news conference held in Beijing for relatives of the 154 Chinese
who are among the missing passengers. As the plane reached the boundary between
Malaysian and Vietnamese airspace, the Malaysian air control announced it was handing over
to Ho Chi Minh City Control. Minutes later, all contact with Flight MH370
was lost. China's foreign ministry said there was "too
much confusion" regarding the information released about the plane's flight path.
"It is very hard for us to decide whether a given piece of information is accurate,"
spokesman Qin Gang told reporters in Beijing. Earlier on Wednesday, Malaysia's air force
chief Rodzali Daud denied remarks attributed to him in local media that flight was tracked
by military radar to the Malacca Strait, far west of its planned route.
Gen Rodzali Daud said he "did not make any such statements", but the air force had "not
ruled out the possibility of an air turn-back".