KUALA LUMPUR, June 4 — Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein today said they are going for the long haul in the search for flight MH370, as Australia set a 300-day deadline for a private contractor to complete the next stage of the search in the southern Indian Ocean.
He said there are at least six Malaysian companies that will participate in the open tender process to lead the new search phase, which will cover an area of some 60,000 square kilometres - or about half the size of peninsular Malaysia.
“I can confirm that Deftec, Petronas and Boustead have come forward to help in the search, but we have not yet heard from China or Australia on the number of private companies on their side,” he told reporters after chairing a meeting on the missing Malaysia Airlines plane.
“People have come forward to help even at this stage, and this gives me hope and the strength to continue with the search required,” he added.
Earlier today, Australia - which is heading the search efforts in the southern corridor where flight MH370 is believed to have ended up - set a 300-day deadline to complete the next phase of the underwater search with a budget of A$60 million (RM180 million).
US daily the Wall Street Journal reported that the successful bidder in the open tender process will be paid in full, regardless whether the plane is found, as long as a complete scan of the search area with sonar equipment is done.
Hishammuddin also maintained that the southern Indian Ocean is still the most probable location where MH370 ended its flight, although search attempts to locate the missing jetliner have failed so far.
The minister stressed that there has not been any credible authority disputing the notion that the aircraft had gone down in that part of the ocean, and that the failure to find any trace of the plane simply means it is at another location but still within the search area.
“What is important is that the axis in the southern corridor is not disputed by any party that I know of... these are experts from around the world that confirmed it is in the southern corridor.
“The question is where in the southern corridor, and the southern corridor is huge,” Hishammuddin said.
The defence minister noted that the expert committee chaired by deputy Transport Minister Datuk Aziz Kaprawi and comprising experts from China, the US, UK and Europe are in the midst of establishing the exact location where the new search phase will take place.
“We looked in the area of the search based on the pings found by the Australian vessel Ocean Shield. Looking at the area based on that we found nothing, so we need to regroup and look at what leads we have.
“If there is any information on the new area, I leave it to the experts and will deploy assets under the assets committee, inform the families through the next-of-kin committee.
“Structure-wise, (dissemination of) whatever information comes out from this is already in place. I think that is the best Malaysia can do... in these circumstances, what else can you expect Malaysia to do?” Hishammuddin said.
The ongoing search for flight MH370 is considered the longest and most expensive in the world’s aviation history, with Reuters estimating costs to have hit RM141 million for the first month alone.
The Malaysia Airlines-owned Boeing 777-200ER jet, which was carrying 239 people on board, disappeared on March 8 after the plane veered from its Beijing-bound flight path and flew in the opposite direction towards the southern Indian Ocean.
