us along with our panel as we watch this, the idea this search might have to be stopped for a given length of time, it's not something we certainly have never heard of. we heard that before with air france flight 447, that the flight had already been found. >> but we're way early on that. we're not -- i don't think for a moment we're going to be talking about stopping at any time soon. remembering the southern hemisphere winter, it's coming into fall now, then winter will be coming along shortly. i think we're some way off. i'd be very surprised if he's going to announce he's bringing friends home tomorrow. absolutely once winter arrives in the southern hemisphere and depths of winter, you won't find them going out. it would be too dangerous with the planes and it would be fruitless. they will do what they did with 447, regroup and look at the evidence and set up a new plan for where they're going to start. >> david, i mean, can this

debris -- amei mean, some of it would sink after a certain amount of time. >> what is floating will stay floating for longer than you might expect. the bottom of the cargo compartment, which is a green zinc chromate color. >> one part of debris is said to be green? >> yes, which is fairly unique to that aircraft. typically they're painted white and have a different color inside. this aircraft doesn't, it's green. it's a honeycomb structure, it has a sealed epoxyed together, which has sealed air compartments inside it. if it's floating, it's likely to continue to float but certainly not through the winter. >> and we're anticipating this press conference getting started any time soon.

at this point, there are no assets now on scene in terms of the search, even obviously aircraft are not flying given the bad weather, but even ships on the surface that were in the region, had they left the search area? >> it was ordered out of the search area. there was one ship in the area and it was ordered out because of the waves. the australian military saying the wave length has been extreme, 6 1/2 waves and the swells have been doubled that. the conditions have not been ideal. it is foggy. this is an air known to pilots as a roaring 40s, right at 40 latitude and longitude and you toss in bad weather and it makes it too dangerous to be there on the water or in the air. the press conference that you're seeing, as we show you a split screen here, that press conference is quite unusual. it's actually just right over my right shoulder.

it's a bit of a walk but that press conference is nothing that we've seen here since we arrived. you don't have the defense minister simply fly in and gather the reporters. we haven't had the military come over to us and say, "okay, everybody, gather up, it's time to make some sort of announcement." we're guessing at this point it must be something significant. the first highest level minister we've heard from through all this and we were called to it. we're very anxious what he's going to say. >> richard? >> i've just been advised by one of our producers who says that the minister of defense will be joined by the vice chief of defense staff and the deputy chief of joint operations. so they're pulling in the big brass here. i'm guessing we're going to get a very good operational overview and a road map, unless of course whether they're going to tell us they've identified something. i think it's going to be more

operational, this is where we're going, this is where we're going and where we expect to move it forward. >> most information which has come out, how does it come out from the military, from military authorities? there's not regular press conferences you said? >> no. we've had to in some ways because they've been so overwhelmed by our phone calls call and call and call and call or they released it via social media or on their web site. that's why all of us here on the base are really quite interested in what's going to be announced because richard may very well be right that this is just a plan of what it's going to look like now that we're into day six. but, you know, this is a high-level minister flying into this military base from a distance and, you know, wanting to talk to reporters. we think this might be something significant. >> when was the search called

off for today? it's obviously just past midnight here, very early tuesday morning, very late monday night, however you want to look at it. it's tuesday afternoon in australia. at what point was the search called off? >> reporter: it was publicly announced about 55 minutes after the first plane was set to take off. in that vein of how do we get that information, it came via press release, it came via social media. it didn't come through an announcement. that's a pretty big deal to simply say we're not going to be searching to. you did notice this morning that the cars were arriving and the crews were arriving. it did sound like they were going to take off. we had been given no indication that today was not going to be a day that they fly. in fact, we had been told that they were going to again take to

the air. but whether always is the determining factor of whether or not you can continue an operation like this. about 55 minutes, anderson, is when it was at least publicly told to us that it was not going to be happening today. >> and this press conference or statement should be any minute. we anticipated it about six minutes ago. in about 24 minutes from now, there's a press conference in kuala lumpur, in malaysia, that is supposed to take place. the fact that there are these two different press conferences, it does give you a sense of just on a very limited scale of the complexity and scale of this entire operation and investigation. i mean, the communication has got to be it's coordinated, it shows the difficulty and the breadth of we have this situation in china right now where you have family members heading toward the malaysian embassy, situations in kuala lumpur where they're preparing

for this press conference, a conference in perth, australia. it involves so many different nationalities and personalities. >> the complexity is unbelievable. the thing about an accident investigation, i don't care how big or small it is, you never know what you did right, you only know what you did wrong. that's really a difficult position to be in. i really feel for these folks doing this investigation. i've never done an investigation that after the fact want second guessed and even myself second guessed. that's part of getting the experience to do it and i just feel for them right now. they're going through a lot. >> in terms of the investigation, there are representatives from the ntsb, from british authorities in kuala lumpur working with malaysian authorities. how does something like that get coordinated? >> what we do is we have an inspector in charge, whether that's the ntsb or delegated to

the faa in smaller cases. that gives you a single point of contact and that would be incredibly difficult with all these countries and varying levels of experience and what they can and cannot do. the ntsb is cautious not to go there and take over things. they're very experienced. but when they're not the inspector in charge, they're in a difficult position as well. they're in kind of a tender position of trying to build and contribute to the team without trying to take over and step on egos and everything else that's involved. >> we heard a short time ago family members in beijing are heading toward the malaysian embassy to protest. there has been a lot of criticism of malaysian authorities. fair or not fair, richard? >> it's not been a rolls-royce of an investigation. it's not ban gold standard investigation that you might have expected to see out of the ntsb or the double aib in the u.k. or b.e.a. in trafrance. i think the truth is it's been

nowhere near as bad as people are saying. the reality is if you were to say how many facts have they got wrong, almost none. have they had to correct or tweak things? undoubtedly. that's the normal way to do things. but to start this mass -- >> i'm sorry, let me just -- malaysian airline spokesman is telling cnn malaysian airlines is not sending family members anywhere until they find wreckage of the flight or receive emergency notification from the search and rescue operation in australia. just been given that word. earlier in the day there had been reporting they are looking to possibly flying family members once the debris was found to australia. it's going to depend on when actual debris from the plane is found. >> this has been unprecedented, everybody agrees. but two weeks ago -- i'll give you an example of what we're talking about here. everybody says why do they continue looking up in the north when clearly there was radar tracks and all this stuff showing the thing turned around.

because it had to be verified it, had to be confirmed. we know it was sent backwards and forwards to the u.s. and k.l. they would have been excoriated if they sent ships all the way down to the south indian ocean, 2.5 thousand miles on a hunch. the malaysians know what they are doing, it's been messy. others may disagree. >> this is an overwhelming situation in its magnitude. >> the likes of which we have never seen. >> it's unprecedented absolutely. an accident investigation in and of itself is an overwhelming thing from the standpoint down right to emotion, as you understand. they probably withheld information as part of the

investigation process because some of this has not -- is not for public knowledge because it's detrimental to the families, to the friends of the passengers. >> even national security issues are involved given military radar versus civilian radar in countries like malaysia and elsewhere. countries are loath to let their military information be known to enemies or even allies. >> and it got worse. the plane wasn't where it was expected to be. and suddenly not only do you not have a plane where you expect it to be but you're starting to hear rumors that it's actually gone in the opposite direction and you've got no evidence. now, if there is a criticism, it goes to the malaysian criticism for not spotting the 370 going across on the night. >> and there's still a big question of how that could have happened, how could it have crossed malaysian airspace without the military realizing. >> but the core issue of expecting them to have known that the plane was two and a

half thousand miles in the opposite direction, and even that inmarsat said -- >> you see a bunch of reporters waiting around where the australian defense minister is said to be making a statement or giving a press conference. it was supposed to take place 12 minutes ago. obviously we are waiting just as the reporters are waiting in the sun there just outside perth, australia. kyung, have officials given any word on what's gone on? >> we don't. we have a colleague at that press conference right now and ten minutes to 12 they were given ten-minute warning. it was scheduled to happen at noon. we don't know exactly what the delay is all about. we know he's traveling in, the defense minister is traveling in. perhaps there's a travel delay. we simply don't know. but if i could just add one

thing to what you and richard were talking about, you know, you mentioned the criticism about malaysia airlines. i was told by a chinese journalist here that they're under the impression that the chinese families are coming here and coming very soon. we've heard a number of reports of fathers of the passengers heading to the kuala lumpur airport because they were told by malaysia airlines they were going to be traveling to australia. so there is a lot of mixed messaging happening and it very frustrating for the families, it's very frustrating for the people who are emotionally and directly involved. so, yes, there is all this criticism out there but the effect of it is that it's making it much more painful for the parents and the children of the passengers. >> our david fitzpatrick is at the press conference awaiting it. david, what are you hearing? >> reporter: anderson, there have been two other members of the australian defense ministry

staff joining david johnson here. so far there are about 50 or so members of the media here, there is a line or four orions here. we have to sit here and wait. as soon as we see people walk up, we'll certainly let you know. >> again, this is just a sign of the kind of coordination on a small scale taking place. malaysian officials are supposed to be giving a press conference 15 minutes from now. on something like this would i mean how much communication is there or would there be between the investigation taking place in malaysia and australian officials with the coordination of release of information? >> it goes back to the fact there's no singular person in charge of the investigation or

controlling the information back and forth. as les pointed out, at some point you have to say what is real information, what's not and what's worth -- what do we need to spend resources investigating. you could go down all kinds of different routes but at some point you make up a priority mate tririx of the theories and philosophies and put weights on that to come up with mathematical figures to figure out the most likely scenario. >> i'm sorry, go ahead. >> but to try to dilute that map with what's going on with all of the different participants has just got to be painstaking. >> we're told the press conference will begin shortly. we're going to take about a 90-second break and bring it to you live when we come back.

frequent heartburn? the choice is yours. chalky. not chalky. temporary. 24 hour. lots of tablets. one pill. you decide. prevacid. ♪ 24 hour [ male announcer ] even more impressive than the research this man has at his disposal is how he puts it to work for his clients. morning. morning. thanks for meeting so early. come on in. [ male announcer ] it's how edward jones makes sense of investing.

we are going to make some comments regarding the investigation and the australian and international efforts to hopefully find something regarding flight 370. >> ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for keeping everybody informed as to what is going on and what is most important event in terms of aviation and maritime safety. today i'm here to speak to the crews and the maintainers of these magnificent aircraft that are behind me. i want to take the opportunity to publicly thank all of the crews and all of the teams that keep these planes flying. as you know, it is a four-hour trip down there, two hours on station and then four hours home. this is an extremely remote part of the world.

it 3,500 meters deep, 2,500 kilometers from perth. eig it's a massive logistic exercise. there are four australian p-3s, a p-8 from the united states, two illusions from china, there's a p-3 coming from korea with a c-130h this afternoon. i want to thaake the opportunit to thank all of those countries for their assistant. i had lunch with the teams and they're keeping their aircrafts flying and keeping their teams up to the minute enthusiasm. "hms success" has had to deployed to the west to avoid

major weather operations. visa fees will be waived for the families of the passengers and crew of this malaysian aircraft. we will be very pleased to welcome them here to give them some closure in what is an extreme tragedy for them. so for that i come back to the fact that this is an amazing example of international cooperation, particularly between militaries. and may i say as a western australian, we are very pleased to host the chinese, the japanese, koreans and americans into western certainly australians. >> reporter: are the chinese being flown here to be flown over the logistical area? >> i don't want to speculate because this is a major operation. this is probably one of the most remote parts of our planet. we want to get that right. we want to assist these families and friends to have some

closure, but let's talk about that when we know how many are coming and when they're arriving. >> reporter: is it very clearly now a case of not looking for survivors but looking for debris and looking for the black boxes? >> to this point in time we have no successfully identified and recovered any debris from the aircraft in question. >> reporter: can you confirm this is the place that the plane crashed? >> reporter: -- in his view the plane was in the southern ocean. do you share that strength of view? >> i think if we're going to go on data and information giving us a hint as to what has actually happened, that's all we've got to go on. the telemetry from the satellite, the inmarsat satellite and the performance of the aircraft is all we've got to go on. i think we've got to rely on that and that's what we've been

doing. this lady would like to ask a question. >> reporter: would you say you are confident with the prime minister assessment that the fate of flight 370 ended in the indian ocean. are you confident about that? >> i'm confident about that because that's the best we've got at this time. >> reporter: so you're not surprised they made the call last night, sending the messages to the families? >> i'm not surprised about anything with respect to this. this is a mystery and until we recover and positively identify a piece of debris, everything is virtu virtually speculation. >> reporter: what's the idea with the search operation? >> when you have to suspend operations for 24 hours because of weather, these beautiful aircraft behind me are grounded. it is rough, there are 20, 30 meter waves, it is very, very

dangerous, even for big ships. >> reporter: have you received further details from malaysia can support the conclusion delivered by malaysia premier? >> i will hand over to the vice minister of defense that will tell you everything we have you know about and that we are doing everything we can to, first of all, make a positive identification on a piece of debris. that will mean we're on the right track. that's not going to happen for at least another 24 hours because we've had to redeploy our ship due to weather. >> reporter: can you verify the photos the chance provided? >> i have nothing to add on that. i think you've seen all the information out there. >> reporter: were you informed before minister najib made his statement last night?

>> i probably wasn't because i was traveling. the prime minister has been informed as event passed. >> reporter: do you understand "hms success" to be confident they're close to what was seen from the air yesterday? >> it very easy to speculate about being close. close in this part of the world could be several hundred kilometers. if you want to put it in some sore of analogous skipdescripti we are looking for an aircraft from perth in western australia. this is probably one of the largest efforts you'll ever see in terms of maritime surveillance, joint efforts between johnson, china, united states, new zealand, straaustra

et cetera. >> reporter: how urgent is it to find the black box -- >> everything urgent. we have to deal with it the best we can. >> reporter: objects haven't been confirmed. >> the turning point will be when we pull some piece of debris from the surface of the ocean and positively identify it as being part of the aircraft. >> reporter: do you have any other details on the support that will be provided to families? >> at this stage i don't. but bear in mind the prime minister is very, very fixed on assisting malaysia, who is a very good friend of australia in dealing with the families of the crew and passengers on board this aircraft. we'll do what we can within

reason. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]. >> i'm going to hand over to vice chief of defense binskin, who is with the royal australian air force. >> if i can put the analogy of what we've got at the moment. we're not searching for a needle in a haystack. we're still trying to find where the haystack is. you're seeing a multi-national effort going on. it is difficult for "hms success" to be able to find small bits of debris that is washing around in the southern indian ocean at the moment. as the minister said, for safety concerns today, we had to put "success" to the south. we're hoping for good weather in coming days where the search effort will be joined by a number of chinese ships. we'll have the korean b-3 and

we'll have more ships and more aircraft and can refine the search. >> reporter: it becoming more of a recovery operation than it was before. there are no asset, including the ocean shield heading out there. what's its role, what can it do? >> it will be joining the search in a couple of days. it takes time to come down and around into the search area. the aim for her will be working to put specialist equipment on board so that as we further refine the search area, that we might be able to go out and look for the black boxes. >> reporter: has there been a 100% collaboration between the nations in terms of the search? is it under one specific umbrella? >> actually, the collaboration has been very, very good between nations. for the start of it, there's been a lot of cooperation between the u.s., u.k. and australia. it was the u.k. part of the team that first put us into the place we are now and that's been

refined by more imagery from china that everyone is getting a chance to look at. that side of it is very, very collaborative. from the aircraft and ships, there's a lot of collaboration going on by the moment. it a relatively small operation and it growing by the day. is information being passed to malaysia? the answer is yes. >> do you have information or evidence that maybe there's still doubt that 370 did go down in the indian ocean? >> the best information we have and i haven't seen the report but the information from the british overnight seeps to indicate more sewurety that it went down in the southern indian nation. as we get more data, we continue

to defined the search data. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]. >> i won't go into those details. we won't have time for that. but it is to get an indication where you're searching before you can define that. >> reporter: how long do you think the search will be delayed because of the weather? >> they are very, very good at measuring the currents. we've dropped buoys to measure the water. they will keep a very good track on where the current debris field should be. as the weather clears, we'll go back in. at the moment it available by aircraft and we will send ships back in. we have to make sure anything we pick up we can possibly identify as wreckage and then further refine the search area. >> we're awaiting now a press conference from malaysian airlines scheduled to happen about two minutes from now in

kuala lumpur, which is about 12:30 in the afternoon. we're going to bring you the scene of that press conference. frankly not a lot of news coming out of the australian press conference, which was more of an overview, defense minister saying he had flown there to thank all the crews involved in the search. he also thanks all the countries involved who have actually sent air assets and ships, australia, new zealand, japan, china, korea sending an asset later today. he talked about waiving visas for family members of the crews and the passengers and just talked about the rough conditions, the swells that are out in the search area which have forced officials to call off the search at least for today. no word on if the search will continue. let's listen in to kuala lumpur. >> i am the chairman of the malaysian airlines.

as you will be aware, last night the prime minister of malaysia najib razak announced new evidence regarding the disappearance of ma 370 on the 8th of march. based on this evidence, the prime minister's message was that we must now accept the painful reality that the aircraft is now lost and that none of the passengers or crew on board survived. this is a tragic day for all of

us at this airlines. while not entirely unexpected after an intensive multi-national search across 2.4 million square mile area, this news is clearly devastating for the families of those on board. they have waited over two weeks for even the smallest of hope of positive news about their loved ones. this has been an unprecedented event requiring an unprecedented response. the investigation under way may yet prove to be even longer and more complex. than it has been since march the 8th. but we will continue to support

the families, as we have done throughout. and to support the authorities as the search for definite answers continues. i will now ask our group to provide you with fuller details of our support of the families. . >> i stand before you today as the group chief executive officer of malaysian airlines but also as a parent, as a brother and as a son. my heart breaks to think of the unimaginable pain suffered by all the family. there are no words which can

ease that pain. everyone in malaysia airlines family is praying for the 239 souls on ma-370 and for their loved ones on this dark day. we extend our prayers and sincere condolences. we all feel enormous sorrow and pain. sorrow that all those who boarded flight mh-370 on saturday 8 of march would not see their families again. and those family will now have to live, they have to live on without their loved ones. it must be remembered that 13 of our own colleagues and fellows

are also involved. let me be very clear on the events of yesterday evening. our sole motivation last night was to ensure that the incredibly short amount of time available to us, the families heard the tragic news before the world did. wherever humanly possible we did so in person with the families or by telephone using message as a last result of ensuring fully that nearly 1,000 family members heard the news from us and not from the media. ever since the disappearance of flight mh-370, this airline's

focus has been to comfort and support the families of those involved and also to support the multi-national search effort. we will continue to do this while we also continue to support the work of the investigating authorities in the southern indian ocean. like everyone else, we are waiting for news from those authorities. we know that while there had been an increasing number of apparent leads, definitely identification of any piece of debris is still missing. but after 17 days, the announcement made last night and shared with the families is the reality that we must face and we now must accept.

when we received approval from the investigating authorities, arrangement will be made to bring families to the recovery areas if they so wish. until that time we will continue to support the ongoing investigation. and may i express my thanks to the malaysian government and all those involved in this truly global search effort. in the meantime, our focus will be the same as it has been from the outset, to provide the families with a comprehensive support program. a network of over 700 dedicated care givers, care givers for each -- the loved ones of those on board have been provided with two dedicated care givers and

they provide care, support and counsel to the families. we are now supporting over 900 people and with this program and in the last 72 hours alone, we have trained additional 40 care givers to ensure the families have access to round-the-clock support. in addition, hotel accommodation for up to five family members per passengers, transportation, meals and other expenses have been provided since 8 of march and that will continue. malaysia airlines have already provided initial financial assistance of $5,000 u.s. dollar per passenger to each next of

kin. we recognize the financial support is not the only consideration, but the prolonged search is naturally placing financial strain on the relatives. we are, therefore, preparing to offer additional payment as the search continues. this unprecedented event in aviation history has made the past 18 days the greatest challenge to face our entire team at malaysia airlines. i've been humbled by the hard work, by dedication, heart-felt messages of concern and offers of support from our remarkable team. we do not know why, we do not

know how, we do not know how this terrible tragedy happened. but as this airline's family, we all are praying for the passengers and crew of mh-370. >> ladies and gentlemen, member of the media, i answer the floor for question-and-answer session. please state your name and media organization before you ask the question. >> i'm from hong kong phoenix tv. my name is carol chong. just now you show your sorrow to the family members and we heard their shouts and screams, especially in beijing, the

hotel. so up to now they said you delayed the investigations. did you? and actually what is the evidence, exact evidence that you show to get the result? and some of the family members told us they want to -- they went to australia, they want to go to australia so could you arrange the trip for them? thank you. >> you will appreciate the missing plane was reported to the authorities and since then it was a matter for the authorities to take over the searching and finding the plane. and it is since then the domain of the authorities. but as i mentioned earlier, our focus, our center of action throughout this period, painful

period, was to provide care and assistance to our passengers. certainly this is a time of extreme emotions and we fully understand that impact people, our family. in terms in how they react is emotional, as you may understand. as regards to going to australia, as mentioned just now -- >> we have been informed by authorities that visa will be given or granted to those family members, once evidence has been establish established. >> next question. >> reporter: my question is so

far you haven't found any evidence of wreckage of the missing plane. how are you so sure you are determined to believe that the plane has crashed. how do you believe that? and just based on the analysis of the images and the like? >> fair enough. i think that's a very fair question. but as you would also appreciate, especially last night as the prime minister came out himself to share that he has been given fairly credible leads that would point to where the plane ended its flight. and as he mentioned that position is very far away, very remote away from the nearest land mass and after 17 days we could on bring ourselves to

reach the conclusion. yes, please. >> reporter: you talked in your statement a minute ago that this was unexpected. why wait so long for the families to be told that? and why such a hurry -- [ inaudible ]. >> as far as -- we take lead from the investigation that continues. and yesterday when the prime minister made the statement, it was very evident that the aircraft ended its flight in the middle of south indian ocean.

so we will have to be -- we just have to follow those evidence as have been presented to us. and what we did yesterday was to share that as quickly as possible to the next of kin. and will i resign? it's a personal decision. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]. >> reporter: how the malaysian side provided information and evidence of the mh-370 flight ending in the indian ocean? >> the investigation is with the authorities and it is best to ask the authorities.

>> okay, the next one, the lady. >> reporter: from china. i have a question, the first one i would like to rephrase. now we confirm that the plane is end in the south india ocean but is the survival chance totally avoided? the second question is now there are some reports about they find the mh -- [ inaudible ]. also that airplane -- and it happened a sharp turn around and

very unstable altitude flying reports. so they have very similar -- so could these events caused by some failure -- >> i'm sure that will be very important concentration to be taken by the investigators. thank you. >> reporter: but the first one, the survival chances -- >> at the moment, that's how we are looking at it because the plane ended at a place -- land mass. >> reporter: can you repeat that? >> this by the evidence given to us and by the ration deduction that we could only arrive at

that conclusion, for malaysia airline to declare it lost the plane and by extension the people on the plane. >> reporter: thank you. i'm from chinese news organization. during these several days i have interviewed some people in malaysia and crews and family members, most of them are not satisfied with the reaction to this emergency. what is your opinion about this? and why you isolate them to the outside world? thank you. >> they are saying they are dissatisfied with the opinion? could you repeat the question, please?

>> reporter: during this several days i have interviewed some people in malaysia, including family members. most of them are not satisfied at your reaction to this emergency. so what is your opinion about this? and why you isolate them to the outside world? thank you. >> our first concern, particularly for the families from china, is for their safety and comfort and privacy. and that is the main concern to driver whatever we tried to offer the family members. and in terms of why we keep them hanging on is simply we all shared their hope as well. >> reporter: why you isolate them from the outside world?

>> probably isolating them is not the correct impression. we certainly put them in a place where they're comfortable and also is where they could have privacy and they have given access to care givers with whatever they require, like visiting the places of worship and things like that. so they are not being closeted. >> reporter: my condolences. the police have now narrowed the investigation to the crew

members and the pilot in particular, could you comment on that? have you had any problems in the past, any disciplinary issues with the pilots or the crew, anything that would point to anything? thank you. >> i appreciate that. i think it is a fair question. that brings us back to the purpose of this press conference is to share with other than the families of our affected passengers and crew about what we had done last night, that is to break the news. and what we do next, particularly in terms of continuing with our care giving to our passenger's families and what we do in terms of the normal process as you mentioned for events like this.

so your question is correct but i think the direct for um is when we meet investigators. thank you. >> next question will be from the gentleman over there. >> reporter: you referred earlier to the information that led to last night's announcement but can you say exactly what the analysis was and what the new data was that gave you enough certainty to make that statement? >> the best is this afternoon proceed with the military, they will be there to explain. >> reporter: but do you know presumably what the analysis was? what was it? >> we had been given the indication that we should now arrive at this very sad

conclusion. >> reporter: the questions are -- >> i said the best time is whether we have the ministry of transport this afternoon. >> thank you. the next question will be from the gentleman over here. >> reporter: in the spirit of helping the families understand what has happened and baring in mind you now do have more information which led you to the conclusion the prime minister announced, what is your best analysis of what actually happened, bearing in mind we have quite some hours before the next press conference. >> i don't want to speculate in terms of what happened to the aircraft. i think the investigation is ongoing. i think our focus is really for the family members, how to help them moving forward and that's really our focus here. otherwise we are just speculating and i think the investigation is not concluded, i don't want to speculate any more than that. >> we're spending our time now

and the process going forward in terms of how we can meet our legal and moral obligations to the families. >> thank you. >> okay, the next question from the gentleman here. >> reporter: thank you. from cbs news, i want to ask a question about the perception. this has been dealt with a little bit so far at the news conference. some people, the family members, have not been happy with the way this all has come down as far as their isolation in some cases, whatever. some people have suggested or implied that malaysian airline officials have been heartless. have you been heartless? can you respond to that? >> we can appreciate that.

[ inaudible ]. there are also in our numbers who have -- we really talked with them. so this question of limitation and practical limitation that we're looking at but coming from our bottom of our heart, we're really reaching forward because 13 of the missing passengers and crew and one passenger, member of our family, extremely closely knit, we feel for each other. and that sort of -- extends to our passengers as well.

from the first day we started the family assistance places all over the place and dispatched the family care givers and we probably enabled them to provide whatever was, you know, which we can do. and certainly no amount of compensation or consolation will make up for any loss of life. and we appreciate that. >> reporter: and one follow-up. are you going to attempt or will your high ranking executives attempt to meet and talk to every family that has suffered a loss? >> it's being done all the time, sir. we do not display our names when we go. >> thank you. the next question from the gentleman in red shirt.

>> reporter: global brazil. i know it's a difficult question but how do you see this position of australian government that on will grant the visas for the families when no evidence is found. maybe still there is hope in australia's opinion? >> well, actually, i can't speak on behalf of australian government. >> reporter: that's why i say it's a difficult position. do you agree with the position. >> whether i agree or don't agree, like i said, we are here to ensure that we support the family and to make sure we fulfill their wishes. >> in this time of human challenge, compassion will rise. so i think protocol notwithstanding, i'm sure, as we say, this is unprecedented event

and we may be looking at some un -- way to resolve this. i'm sure that the issue will arise and i'm sure it will be addressed. >> reporter: jason from the wall street journal. i understand you are stressed and your focus right now is to help the families, but malaysia airlines is also party to the investigation. so can you tell us after one or two weeks what is the most likely cause for this? can you tell us confidently that it's not a -- [ inaudible ]. >> i really appreciate your curiosity, as we are also, but we have to draw a line between

what is, you know, should be in the formal domain and what we can do. our focus at the moment is more in terms watch we can do, which is outside the investigation area. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]. >> yeah, certainly we will not want to jeopardize or dissipate anything. >> can i have the last question from the local authority? >> reporter: from channel 8 asia, i would like to talk about future of -- how badly has it affected business and -- >> well, obviously it has affected the airline. but so far, like i said, we're doing our best to ensure that those that bought malaysia

airline tickets, making sure they are being served, being flown safely, comfortably. moving forward is certainly we will look into. obviously it is something that we must basically share with the families of those on board. weep must empathize with them and i think this is a very painful period for the airline and something that we have to share this spirit with the families and passengers and the crew. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]. >> our procedures are -- we have ratchet up our procedures to the

level to ensure safety of all parties. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]. >> we can have a separate one. thank you. my remarks are the same. our hearts and prayers are with the families. thank you. >> we've been listening to a press conference given by the chairman of the malaysian airlines and ceo of malaysian airline. they repeatedly pointed out they are