馬來西亞客機搜尋處理方式遭批評

Malaysia is better known for pristine beaches and palm oil plantations than air disaster management. But the loss of a jet airliner from its national fleet five days ago has thrust the country into the role of crisis manager in the full glare of global scrutiny. The sudden disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 from commercial aviation radars – en route to Beijing with 239 passengers on board – has still not been solved, long after the airliner lost contact with air traffic control over the South China Sea.

馬來西亞比較出名的是純淨的海灘以及棕櫚油種植園，而不是空難應對管理。但該國主要航空公司的一架噴氣式客機在五天前失蹤，使該國在全球衆目睽睽之下擔當起危機管理者的角色。馬來西亞航空公司(Malaysia Airlines)載有239名乘客和機組人員的MH370航班在飛往北京途中，在南中國海上空與航空交通管制中心失去聯絡，並突然從民航雷達系統上消失，這一離奇事件的謎底至今仍未找到。

Criticism has mounted that communications have been slow, information contradictory and co-ordination patchy. Aviation experts, frustrated relatives of those aboard and even China itself, home country of most of the passengers, have been increasingly vocal in making concerns known. Vietnam said yesterday it was reducing its involvement in the search for the aircraft because of “insufficient information” from the Malaysian side. It had been one of the first countries to send ships to the area being combed for signs of wreckage – an operation that involves 42 vessels and 39 aircraft from 12 countries.

有越來越多的批評聲音指責馬來西亞方面在溝通方面行動遲緩，公佈的信息自相矛盾，且協調工作差強人意。航空專家、失望的乘客親屬、甚至中國官方（機上大部分乘客是中國公民）在表達各自的擔憂時都變得越來越直言不諱。越南昨天表示，越方已降低搜尋這架飛機的力度，因爲馬來西亞方面提供的信息“不夠充分”。越南是首個向拉網式搜尋飛機殘片的海域派出艦船的國家之一。來自12個國家的42艘艦船和39架飛機參與了這項行動。

Qin Gang, China’s foreign ministry spokesman, said: “There’s too much information and confusion right now. It is very hard for us to decide whether a given piece of information is accurate,” adding: “We will not give it up as long as there’s still a shred of hope.’’

中國外交部發言人秦剛表示：“目前各種消息很多、很混亂，很難一一覈實。但是我們也說了，只要有一線希望，就不能輕言放棄。”

David Learmount of Flightglobal magazine said: “It’s bad enough for a wide-body jet to go missing  . . . but then for the responsible country’s government and aviation agencies to handle the associated information with total incompetence is unforgivable.”

Flightglobal雜誌的大衛•利爾蒙特(David Learmount)表示：“一架寬體噴氣客機失蹤已經夠糟糕的了……但令人無法原諒的是，主要責任國的政府以及航空管理機構在處理相關信息方面完全無能。”

Malaysian officials belatedly tried to combat the criticism with a show of senior military brass yesterday, armed with the latest radar-tracking information.

馬來西亞政府姍姍來遲地試圖迴應批評，該國軍方高層昨日露面，帶來了最新的雷達跟蹤信息。

Rodzali Daud, air force chief, told a press conference the last “plot” of a suspected aircraft logged on the military’s “primary radar” systems came at 2.15am on Saturday. That was 45 minutes after flight MH370 disappeared from the civil aviation’s “secondary radar”, putting the aircraft 200 miles northwest of Penang, a port city on the west of Malaysia.

馬來西亞空軍司令羅扎裏•達烏德(Rodzali Daud)在一個新聞發佈會上表示，在軍方的“初級雷達”系統上，一架疑似飛機的亮點最後一次出現是在週六凌晨2時15分。此時距離MH370航班從民航部門的“二級雷達”系統失蹤已經過去了45分鐘，那個亮點位於馬來西亞西部港口城市——檳城西北方向200英里處。

Mr Rodzali sparked confusion earlier when he denied telling a Malaysian newspaper that an aircraft had been detected turning towards the Malacca Strait.

此前達烏德否認自己曾向一家馬來西亞報社表示，一架飛機被發現轉向馬六甲海峽(Malacca Strait)方向飛行，引發外界困惑。

Hishamuddin Hussein, Malaysia’s defence and acting transport minister, said authorities were “still not sure” that what appeared on the military radar was flight MH370. “We need to clarify that to make sure the information that we have been saying in the last few days is consistent,” he said. “It is far from confusion. It is only confusion if you see it as confusion.”

馬來西亞國防部長和代理交通部長希沙姆丁•侯賽因(Hishamuddin Hussein)表示，有關部門仍不確定出現在軍方雷達上的亮點就是MH370航班。他說：“我們必須澄清這一點，以確保我們在過去幾天所公佈的信息是一致的。這絕不是混淆視聽。只有在你把它看成困惑的時候，它纔是困惑。”

Mr Hishamuddin said he would appear at daily press briefings as of today in an apparent move to tackle criticism that too many ministry and department heads have been weighing in on the disappearance. “There’s been a sense there’s no central voice, no leadership in this situation,” said Ooi Kee Beng, deputy director-general of the Institute of Southeast Asia Studies in Singapore.

侯賽因表示，他將從今天起出席每日的媒體情況通報會，此舉明顯是爲了迴應批評意見，即馬來西亞太多部委和部門的主管在飛機失蹤一事上發表意見。新加坡東南亞研究所的副總幹事黃基明(Ooi Kee Beng)表示：“人們的感覺是，馬來西亞政府缺乏核心聲音，在當前的情況下看不到領導力。”

Experts have suggested various theories that might explain how the aircraft, which was at normal cruising altitude when Malaysian air traffic control lost touch with it, disappeared.

當馬來西亞航空交通管制中心與這架飛機失去聯絡時，它正在正常巡航高度飛行。如今，專家們提出了多種可能解釋這架飛機爲何失蹤的理論。