Malaysian investigators have sought the help of the FBI to restore files deleted last month from the home flight simulator of the pilot aboard the missing Malaysia Airlines plane to see if they shed any light on the disappearance, officials said Wednesday, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Files containing records of simulations carried out on the program were deleted Feb. 3 from the device found in the home of the Malaysia Airlines pilot, Capt. Zaharie Ahmad Shah, Malaysian police chief Khalid Abu said, the WSJ reported.
Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told a news conference that Zaharie is considered innocent until proven guilty of any wrongdoing, and that members of his family are cooperating in the investigation, according to the WSJ.
It was not immediately clear whether investigators thought that deleting the files was unusual, the WSJ reported.
They will want to check those files for any signs of unusual flight paths that could help explain where the missing plane went, according to the WSJ. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said U.S. investigators are prepared to help any way they can.
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 with 239 people aboard disappeared March 8 on a night flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, the WSJ reported. Malaysian authorities have not ruled out any possible explanations, but have said the evidence so far suggests the flight was deliberately turned back across Malaysia to the Strait of Malacca, with its communications systems disabled.
Police are considering the possibility of hijacking, sabotage, terrorism or issues related to the mental health of the pilots or anyone else on board, and have asked for background checks from abroad on all foreign passengers, according to the WSJ.
Officials said such checks have been received for all the foreigners except from three passengers from Ukraine and Russia, the WSJ reported.
