KUALA LUMPUR, April 16 — The search company Fugro engaged in the hunt for Flight MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean is using the “best equipment” available in the world, Australia’s deputy prime minister Warren Truss said today.
When asked to respond to claims that Fugro lacked the necessary track record for the search, Truss said the company was doing an “excellent job” and has been able to deliver high-resolution pictures.
“This is the best equipment in the world and we are satisfied that the search is being conducted in a very professional manner,” he told reporters here.
“As I mentioned, the conditions are very challenging. The weather conditions are challenging; the remoteness of the site is challenging; the depth of the sea in the search area is challenging; the roughness of the seabed is challenging but results have been delivered,” Australia’s transport minister added.
His foreign counterparts, Malaysia’s Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai and China’s Transport Minister Yang Chuantang were also present at the press conference.
A tripartite meeting was held earlier today between Malaysia, China and Australia, where all three nations agreed to expand the search area if the aircraft is not found within the current 60,000-square-kilometre search area.
A year-long search since Flight MH370 disappeared in March last year has failed to yield any leads.
The commercial jet disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014 with 239 people on board.
On January 29 this year, the Malaysian government declared the loss of Flight MH370 as an accident under international aviation regulations.
Yesterday, the Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) said in an operational update that more than 60 per cent of the priority search area has been searched, adding that the current underwater search area may be largely completed around the search deadline of May if there are no delays.
The search is jointly funded by Australia and Malaysia, with both splitting the A$120 million (RM325 million) pledged so far.
Following the tripartite meeting today, Liow said the expanded search phase for Flight MH370 will cover an another 60,000 square kilometres and will likely cost an additional A$50 million.
