KUALA LUMPUR, May 15 — The three-nation committee overseeing the deep-sea hunt for Flight MH370 has yet to finalise the acquisition of its assets, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said today.
The acting transport minister said an extensive mapping of the seabed will be conducted first, before costly equipment is deployed.
“This is so that experts can better understand the sea bed terrain to ensure the autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) and deep water towed side scan sonars, which are very expensive are safely deployed,” he told a news conference on the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner here.
The survey is also required before the “Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROV)” are utilised, he added. Hishamuddin, however, declined to state the cost of procuring the assets, which include equipment from private agencies.
The tripartite committee, made up of Australia, China and Malaysia, in the process of finalising the acquisition process, he said.
He added that the committee is re-examining all data related to the jetliner to better pinpoint its final location.
“Besides the commercial assets, Malaysia and China are also assigning specific assets for operations in this new phase.
“On that note, Malaysia is in the process of acquiring related assets from Petronas, SapuraKencana, Boustead and Deftech,” said Hishammuddin.
The jetliner carrying 239 people has been missing since March 8 after leaving Malaysian shores, resulting in the largest international search mission the world has seen in the history of aviation disasters.
Satellite and radar data have indicated that the jetliner went down in the wild waters of the Indian Ocean, thousands of miles away from the plane’s original flight path to Beijing.
Despite a massive international search in the Indian Ocean, no trace of the missing Boeing 777 has been found.
