SEPANG, June 20 — The new search area for the missing MH370 will be announced in the next two weeks, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said today, adding that “all assets” will be deployed in the new phase.

The acting Transport Minister also confirmed that the new search area will still be within the southern corridor.

“I can confirm that the three countries, Australia, China and Malaysia will be announcing the next area in which we are going to search.

“I can confirm that even as we speak today and even before confirming the new area the bathymetry survey, the survey of the ocean floor is continuing,” he told reporters after a working visit at klia2, which will be officially launched by the prime minister next week.

Hishammuddin, who is also Defence Minister, added that Petronas, DRB-HICOM Defence Technologies Sdn Bhd (Deftech) as well as SapuraKencana Petroleum Berhad will also be contributing assets to the search.

This is in addition to Malaysian and Australian government assets, and private assets selected through an open tender.

Further details on the assets involved in the new phase will be announced after the new search area has been announced, Hishammuddin added.

The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 aircraft went missing shortly after departing Kuala Lumpur International Airport for Beijing on March 8 and remains missing despite an international search involving over two dozen countries.

The Beijing-bound plane was ferrying 12 crew and 227 passengers. It was detailed analysis of satellite and radar data that led experts to believe that MH370 had gone down in the southern Indian Ocean, a theory that at first did not sit well with the families of those aboard the ill-fated jetliner as it showed a drastic diversion to the plane’s original flight path.