MAS jet couldn’t have flown over our airspace, says India’s military

Indian military authorities have dismissed the possibility that the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370, which mysteriously disappeared eight days ago en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur, could have flown over India on its way to Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan in Central Asia, the Times of India reported.

"If the jetliner had tried to cross the Indian mainland, our primary radars (which bounce radio signals off targets) would have picked it up despite its transponders being switched off (secondary radars beam signals that request information from a plane's transponders)," said a top Indian Air Force (IAF) officer.

If an "unidentified" plane had been picked up flouting prescribed procedures or with switched-off transponders or not "squawking" IFF (identification, friend or foe) codes, a series of "air defence measures" would have kicked in - including the scrambling of fighters - to "detect, identify, intercept and destroy" the intruder, the newspaper reported.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak yesterday said the missing plane's last communication with a satellite suggested it could have been "deliberately diverted" after its transponders were switched off.

Najib also the plane would have diverted into "two possible corridors or arcs", namely a northern one stretching from northern Thailand to Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, and a southern one from Indonesia to southern Indian Ocean.

Senior Indian military officers admitted there were "a few gaps" in India's civil and military radar networks, but stressed it would be "virtually impossible" for a jetliner to fly undetected across the Indian mainland.

"The five Airports Authority of India radars at Delhi, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Chennai and Mumbai are integrated with IAF's air defence network. The possibility is far-fetched," said an officer.

"Why also forget the robust air defence networks of countries like Pakistan, fully-geared towards India, or the US-led forces in Afghanistan or Iran for that matter, all of which would have been on this so-called flight arc," he added.

Former IAF vice-chief, Air Marshal P K Barbora, in turn, added, "Both India and Pakistan are very wary of any blip that comes up on their radars... it's very unlikely that a plane could have flown across the vast stretch of land without being detected by one or some other country.

"An aircraft flying low to avoid radars would not be able to go such a long distance."

Indian officials are of the opinion that MH370, hijacked or otherwise, probably went down in the Bay of Bengal or southern Indian Ocean after being diverted.

And that is precisely where India is concentrating its search as part of the ongoing multi-nation hunt for the missing jetliner, the newspaper reported.

"The Navy, IAF and Coast Guard are scanning an area spanning over 250,000 sq km in the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal with six warships and extensive aerial surveillance by aircraft like P-8I long-range maritime patrol planes, medium-range Dornier-228s and a C-130J Super Hercules with electro-optic and infra-red sensors. But so far, no sighting or detection has been reported," said an officer. – March 16, 2014.

@Malaysian Insider

MH370: Coastguards from Indian islands join lost Malaysian jet search

Coastguards from India's remote Andaman and Nicobar Islands joined the airborne search today for a missing Malaysian airliner, a senior official told Reuters.

A Dornier aircraft belonging to the coastguard set off at 2.30 pm local time to search the eastern side of the Andaman islands, on orders from New Delhi, said VSR Murthy, the inspector general of the coastguard service on the islands.

The airliner, which had 239 people on board, vanished from air traffic control screens midway between Malaysia's east coast and Vietnam.

Malaysia's military radar has detected what could have been the jetliner in the northern Malacca Strait, a stretch of water that flows into the Andaman Sea, Malaysia's air force chief said earlier today.

He stressed that the information needed to be corroborated. – Reuters, March 12, 2014.

Misteri Timbunan Rangka Manusia di Tasik Roopkund di Banjaran Himalaya..

Tasik Roopkund di Chamoli District, Uttarakhand, India adalah tasik glasier yang terkenal dengan timbunan lima ratus rangka manusia di sekelilingnya. Tasik ini sering dilaputi salji dan glasier namun apabila tiba musim panas, salji dan glasier yang mencair menampakkan timbunan tengkorak di gigi tasik dan sekelilingnya.

Lokasi di mana tasik ini berada langsung tidak berpenghuni kerana pelbagai faktor terutama ketinggian altitudnya yang mencecah 5,029 meter atau 16,499 kaki. Di kaki gunungnya, terdapat beberapa kampung kecil.

Keberadaan rangka dan tulang manusia yang sebegitu banyak membingungkan ramai saintis. Pertama kali ia ditemui adalah pada tahun 1942 oleh tentera British. Mereka terkejut dengan keadaan yang menyeramkan dan serta-merta menyangka ia adalah tulang dan rangka tentera Jepun. Telahan itu ternyata tidak tepat kerana selepas siasatan dan kajian, tulang tersebut bukan milik tentera Jepun kerana kesemua tulang telah dimakan usia.

Kebanyakan kulit, tulang dan tengkorak tidak mereput kerana faktor cuaca namun berdekad lamanya, saintis masih gagal memecahkan tembok persoalan. Pelbagai teori dikemukakan antaranya adalah kematian mereka disebabkan upacara bunuh diri. Terdapat juga teori yang menghujah bahawa kematian mereka disebabkan pembersihan etnik. Walaubagaimanapun, teori paling masuk akal adalah akibat tertimbus oleh tanah runtuh.

Akhirnya terungkai

Ekspedisi para saintis pada tahun 2004 telah berjaya merungkai misteri kematian mereka di tasik Roopkund. Saintis menganalisi hampir kesemua mayat dan rangka yang terdapat di situ.

Hasilnya, mereka berjaya mencipta kesimpulan yang agak sukar diterima akal. Para saintis tersebut mendakwa bahawa mereka yang maut di tasik Roopkund terbahagi kepada dua puak yang berbeza melalui ciri-ciri fizikal dan DNA mereka.

Puak pertama adalah mereka yang berfizikal seakan-akan sama iaitu kemungkinan mereka sanak-saudara atau daripada puak yang sama.

Manakala puak yang satu lagi terdiri daripada mereka yang berbadan kecil seperti masyarakat tempatan. Kemungkinan mereka diambil bekerja untuk mengangkut barang dan penunjuk jalan kepada puak yang satu lagi.

Walaubagaimanapun, mereka maut dengan cara yang sama selepas hasil analisa menunjukkan tengkorak dan bahu mereka retak teruk. Keretakan tengkorak mereka bukan disebabkan hentam benda tajam namun akibat hentam sesuatu yang berbentuk bulat.

Selepas membuat kajian yang cukup teliti, saintis menyatakan kematian mereka disebabkan oleh hentaman salji yang masing-masing berukuran sebiji bola besbol. Salji tersebut memiliki kekerasan yang cukup untuk memecahkan cermin kereta. Mereka terperangkap di lembah sunyi tersebut dan tidak mempunyai pokok mahupun bangunan untuk berlindung.

Pentarikhan karbon turut dibuat. Apa yang mengejutkan adalah usia mereka adalah dalam lingkungan 850 selepas masihi. Ini bermakna mereka bersemadi tanpa diketahui oleh mana-mana manusia mahupun haiwan selama lebih 10 abad.!

sumber: http://takusahrisau.wordpress.com

Nice share: A free school under a bridge in India

Founder of a free school for slum children Rajesh Kumar Sharma, second from right, and Laxmi Chandra, right, write on black boards, painted on a building wall, at a free school run under a metro bridge in New Delhi, India. At least 30 children living in the nearby slums have been receiving free education from this school for the last three years.

sumber: photo blog NBC news