‘Search to continue with possibility of adding commercial assets’ — hishammuddin

0

KUALA LUMPUR: Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein yesterday gave his assurance that the search for  missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight 370 will continue despite plans to regroup and reassess the operation.

He said the search operation team under the Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) set up by Australia and other partners, would, however, consider other approaches including widening the scope of the search and utilising assets that could be relevant to the hunt which entered its 43rd day yesterday.

Besides maintaining the deployment of the Bluefin-21 mini-submarine for the underwater search, Malaysian authorities were now looking at the possibility of  adding more commercial assets in the operation, he told a media conference on the development of the hunt for the missing plane here yesterday.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot had said the search operation would be regrouped and reconsidered if there were no new updates “in the next few days”.

“Here, companies like Deftech, DRB, Boustead and several Malaysian companies have met and discussed with their foreign counterparts on how we could increase AUVs (autonomous underwater vehicles) to help the search effort,” explained Hishammuddin.

Hishammuddin confirmed that the Bluefin-21, an AUV, had captured clear and sharp images of the seabed while conducting its underwater search missions.

“However, from all six missions conducted, no contacts of interest have been found to date,” he said, adding that the mini-submarine’s seventh mission started yesterday morning.

He also dismissed media reports indicating that it would take the AUV between six weeks to two months to scan the entire underwater search area.

“This is incorrect. The immediate search area that the Bluefin-21 is now scouring should be completed within the next week,” he said.

The minister noted that it was now timely for the parties involved in the search operation to consider and discuss the use of submarines.

Beijing-bound Flight MH370 with 239 people aboard disappeared from radar screens while over the South China Sea after leaving the KL International Airport at 12.41 am on March 8. It was to have arrived in Beijing at 6.30 am on  the same day. — Bernama