Hmmmmm?
A mystery surrounding the cargo being carried by the missing Malaysian Airlines plane emerged on Friday when it was discovered that it had been loaded with items not specified on the manifest.
The aircraft was carrying 4.566 tonnes of mangosteens - an exotic fruit - and a shipment of lithium batteries, which were part of a separate consignment. The batteries weighed 200kg, but that separate consignment totalled 2.453 tonnes. So what was being carried to make up the 2.253 tonnes in that separate shipment?
The mystery was sparked by a spokesman for the company that shipped the batteries telling a Malaysian newspaper that he would not reveal what the remaining 2.253 tonnes of cargo were.
‘I cannot reveal more because of the ongoing investigations,’ the spokesman told The Star newspaper. ‘We have been told by our legal advisers not to talk about it.’
The spokesman said he could not even name the company which manufactured the batteries, insisting that the matter was confidential. Questioned about the fact that a mystery cargo was not stated in the manifest, Malaysian Airlines told the paper that the rest of the consignment was ‘radio accessories and chargers.’
A statement from the airline said that the freight not specified had been ‘declared as radio accessories’, despite there being no reference to this in the manifest released publicly last Thursday.
What the manifest does say is that NNR Global shipped 133 pieces of one item weighing 1.99 tonnes and 67 pieces of another item weighing 463kg for a total ‘consolidated weight’ of 2.453 tonnes.
Just how many lithium batteries had been loaded, or their weight, are not specified in the manifest, although Malaysian Airlines boss Ahmad Yahya told a media conference in Kuala Lumpur on March 24 that the batteries weighed a total of 200kg.
What the manifest does say, in respect of the lithium batteries, is that ‘the package must be handled with care and that a flammability hazard exists if the package is damaged. ‘Special procedures must be followed in the event the package is damaged, to include inspection and repacking if necessary.’
There has been earlier speculation that a fire involving the batteries might have been the cause of the aircraft’s fate. According to The Star, shippers NNR Global are located at an air freight forwarding warehouse located less than 100 yards from the Penang International Airport.
‘The complex is guarded by the police and only those with passes are allowed entry,’ the newspaper said, following its investigation into the unspecified cargo. A consolidated shipment combines several individual consignments to make up a full container load.
At the port of destination, the consolidated shipment is separated back into individual consignments for delivery to their respective consignees.
The lithium batteries and the other mystery items that are said to be radio parts were addressed to NNR Global Logistics in Beijing, but a company named JHJ International Transportation Co.Ltd of Beijing was to collect the cargo on its behalf.
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