Originally Posted by rog747
there is NO investigation as yet as it hasn't crashed in any one country for that
country to start one officially
nor is it a criminal investigation
this is a SAR operation still that is all
Exactly...
But at some point the Malaysian authorities will have to make a tough call, if the aircraft or wreckage is not found soon. As they are the state of registry, at present they (and ONLY they) have the right to launch an official investigation, which may later be ceded if the plane is to be found in some other territory. Similarly, if there were any criminal act it would have been committed on board an aircraft of Malaysian registry, so until that aircraft is found to have landed elsewhere, they are only ones who may launch a criminal investigation. In the case of the former I'm sure all evidence had been secured, so the SAR effort takes full precedence (as it should) and there would be no benefit derived from launching a parallel investigative process. On the other hand in the latter case time is of essence, just someone needs to make the call.