Malaysia under fire over chaotic search for missing jet

"I think it's not a matter of chaos. There are a lot of speculations that we have answered in the last few days," he saidThe hunt for Malaysia Airlines flight 370, involving the navies and air forces of multiple nations, had focused on an area off Vietnam's South China Sea coast where it last made contact Saturday on a journey from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.But Malaysian authorities said Wednesday they were expanding the search to the Andaman Sea north of Indonesia, hundreds of kilometres (miles) away."So right now there is a lot of information, and it's pretty chaotic, so up to this point we too have had difficulty confirming whether it is accurate or not," China's foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said of accounts of the jet's course.Malaysian air force chief General Rodzali Daud attempted to explain why the search zone had been expanded, telling the press conference that military radar detected an unidentified object early Saturday north of the Malacca Strait off Malaysia'swest coast.He said that the reading, taken less than an hour after the plane lost contact over the South ChinaSea, was still being investigated and they were not able to confirm it was MH370.The confusion has fuelled perceptions that Malaysian authorities are unable to handle a crisis on this scale, and infuriated relatives gathered in Beijing and Kuala Lumpur as they endure an unbearable wait for news of their loved ones.Malaysia's ambassador to China, Iskandar Sarudin, reportedly told relatives of some of the 153 Chinese passengers on board the plane that "now is not the time" to reveal what information the military may have on its route.Analysts said there were burning questions over what information -- if any -- Malaysia has gleaned from both military and civilian radar, and the Boeing 777's transponders, and over discounted reports it was later detected near Indonesia."It's bad enough for a wide-body jet to go missing with 239 people on board, but then for the responsible country's government and aviation agencies to handle the associated information with total incompetence is unforgivable," said David Learmount from industry magazine Flightglobal."There are so many information sources that do not appear to have been used effectively in this case. As a result the families of the missing passengers and crew are being kept in the dark," said Learmount, Flightglobal's operations and safety editor.