Pakistan says missing jet has never come to its territory

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan on Saturday rejected Western media reports that the missing Malaysian airliner might be hidden somewhere in the country, according to local media.

"It's wrong, plane never came towards Pakistan," Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Aviation Shujaat Azeem told Dawn newspaper's website.

The comments came after Wall Street Journal has reported a " total flight time of five hours after departing Kuala Lumpur means the Boeing 777 could have continued for an additional distance of about 2,200 nautical miles, reaching points as far as the Indian Ocean, the border of Pakistan or even the Arabian Sea, based on the jet's cruising speed."

"Pakistan's civil aviation radars never spotted this jet," Azeem said.

He said the plane disappeared far away from Pakistani air space and was not visible on its radars, "so how it could be hidden somewhere in Pakistan."

However, he said that his division was on alert and following all developments related to the incident.

"At present there are 95 ships of various countries are in the Indian Ocean on search mission," said Azeem. "No one among those who are on search mission has contacted us to seek information on this tragedy."

He said that civil aviation would provide full cooperation when sought from Pakistan.

He said Pakistan's national carrier has sent a message to Malaysian airline expressing sympathies with the relatives of those who have gone missing on this unfortunate flight.