WASHINGTON (Reuters)
-
A new search area may be opened in the Indian Ocean as authorities try to
determine what happened to a missing Malaysian airliner, the White House said
on Thursday.
"It's my
understanding that based on some new information that's not necessarily
conclusive - but new information - an additional search area may be opened in
the Indian Ocean," White House spokesman Jay Carney said. "And we are
consulting with international partners about the appropriate assets to
deploy."
Carney did not specify
the nature of the "new information."
Carney sidestepped a
question as to whether the United States has confidence in the investigation
being conducted by the Malaysian government.
"I just don't
have an evaluation to make," he said. "What I can tell you is that
we're working with the Malaysian government to try to find the plane; find out
what happened to it for the sake of the families and, obviously, for the sake
of knowing what caused the plane to disappear."
The United States has
been helping in the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, including
the deployment of U.S. Navy vessels. It also has sent National Transportation
Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration officials there.
"There are a
number of possible scenarios that are being investigated as to what happened to
the flight. And we are not in a position at this time to make conclusions about
what happened, unfortunately. But we're actively participating in the
search," Carney told a regular news briefing.
"We're looking
at information, pursuing possible leads, working within the investigation being
led by the Malaysian government."
U.S. defense
officials told Reuters the guided-missile destroyer USS Kidd was en route to
Strait of Malacca, west of the Malaysian peninsula, to continue the search for
the missing jetliner, answering a request from the Malaysian government. The
officials said they were unaware of any new evidence indicating where the plane
might have crashed.
The Kidd had been
searching the areas south of the Gulf of Thailand, along with the destroyer USS
Pinckney. A U.S. defense official noted that a Navy P-3 Orion aircraft had
already searched the Strait of Malacca.
(Reporting by Will
Dunham, Phil Stewart and Roberta Rampton; Editing by Sandra Maler)
