KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 24 — Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai is currently in the United States to seek assistance over the two tragedies that befell national carrier Malaysia Airlines this year.
USA Today reported that he would call on US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx and visit the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in Montreal, Canada, next week.
With regards to Flight MH370 that has been missing since March 8, Liow told the American publication that the search was in the deep-sea phase now and US support was being sought in terms of further equipment.
“Now we need more, to see if there is more technology and experts to find the plane,” he said of the search in the Indian Ocean for the aircraft which vanished with 239 people onboard while en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur.
Pushing for better flight tracking to prevent a plane from going missing like Flight MH370 was on his agenda during the ICAO visit, according to the report.
With his mind on Flight MH17 which crashed in Ukraine on July 17, Liow hopes to urge the ICAO to adopt resolutions for better access to crash sites.
It was reported that investigators were still unable to gain access to the MH17 crash site in eastern Ukraine. All 298 people aboard were killed in the crash, including more than 40 Malaysians.
The wreckage needed to be examined by safety experts to ascertain what actually happened to the Malaysian jetliner, Liow told USA Today, as he offered what might have triggered the crash.
“We suspect definitely that it’s a missile hitting the plane,” he said.
The minister went on to describe Malaysia Airlines as “iconic” with “a lot of emotion in it”. — Bernama
