Ops to be reviewed if no trace of MH370 found under water, says Hishammuddin
Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein (pic) said officials involved in the search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 will have to review current operations and decide the best way forward if the current search does not yield results.
“No decision will be made without discussion and there will come a time when we need to regroup and reconsider,” Hishammuddin said.
He added that this does not mean that they would stop search operations.
“The search will always continue. It’s just a matter of approach,” the acting Transport Minister said at Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur this evening.
He did not provide a time frame for the search, but said it will be intensified in the next few days.
On the results of the data collected by the underwater drone Bluefin-21 which was sent down for the search, Hishammuddin said the visuals were clear but did not contain what they were looking for.
“It gives a clear picture of what the seabed look like. It gives us some sort of relief for the next few days when we intensify our deep sea water search.
Bluefin-21 has searched a total of 90 square kilometres in its first three trips to the ocean floor.
The drone was forced to abort its mission twice this week; the first time after it exceeded its depth limit and the second time due to a technical issue.
After the latter was resolved, it was sent into the ocean again.
Data from its second and third missions have been downloaded, the Australian Joint Agency Coordination Centre said.
The underwater vessel takes two hours to get near the ocean floor and another two hours to return to the surface. It aims to map the ocean floor for 16 hours to retrieve data, which then takes four hours to analyse.
The vessel searches maximum depths of 4,500 metres. The US Navy has determined that the seabed in the search area reaches a maximum depth of 4,600 metres.
Bluefin operators said it could be reprogramme to operate at 5,000 metres to give it more leeway.
Hishammuddin also defended Putrajaya’s handling of the families of passengers and crew on board the missing aircraft and said it was not fair to just focus on the Chinese families.
Yesterday, a technical glitch during a video conference to update Chinese families turned into a screaming match.
Families of the passengers attending the Beijing briefing exploded in anger and stormed out.
Chinese relatives of the passengers have accused Malaysia of withholding information.
The families have 26 questions they want answered. They include requests for shared evidence, including the flight's logbook and recording of air traffic control the night the plane disappeared.
Hishammuddin today said that the government was cooperating not only with the Chinese authorities but with also other countries whose citizens were involved in the incident.
“We are working well with the China authorities and others. I think we have made lots of progress over the past weeks in tackling the families. This is the toughest part, that is, to deal with the families.
“But it’s not only China that we have to focus on. It is not fair. There are 15 nationalities on board of the flight and they are waiting patiently,” he said.
Hishammuddin said a Malaysian delegation will travel to Beijing in the next few days to advise families on the ongoing search.
He added that Putrajaya has put together a committee to deal with the families.
Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, China on March 8 with 239 passengers and crew on board when it disappeared from radar at 1.30am.
A multinational search involving 26 countries, including Australia, Japan and the United States has been launched to look for the missing aircraft.
However, after 41 days, not a single debris or data collected throughout the search have been linked to the missing jetliner. – April 17, 2014.
