Malaysia's Najib urges `collective security' to prevent MH17 repeat
Kuala Lumpur - Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak on Thursday said countries should intensify the sharing of intelligence and flight information to prevent a repeat of the Malaysia Airlines MH17 tragedy.
At present international airlines have different approaches to conflict zones, with no single international agency in charge of ensuring the safety of the skies, he said in a commentary published in the Financial Times.
"The International Civil Aviation Organisation, the UN global aviation body, issues advice on areas to avoid - but does not declare flight paths unsafe," he said. "Instead, individual countries are responsible for issuing warnings for their airspace."
He noted that while Germany's Lufthansa flew over Ukraine, it avoided northern Iraq and Israel.
Australia's Qantas, on the other hand, flew over Iraq, but avoided Ukraine and Israel. British Airways flew over Israel, but avoided Ukraine and Iraq.
Najib said that on July 17 - when MH17 was believed to have been shot down by a missile in the Ukrainian air space - there were 55 aircraft from nine countries that flew over the area.
On Tuesday, Dutch investigators said in a preliminary report that MH17, with 298 people aboard, broke up in the air, probably after being hit "by a large number of high-energy objects."
Najib said that avoiding flying over every conflict zone is impractical and could paralyse aviation and the world economy.
"After MH17, we must choose collective security over national interest," he said.
DPA
