KUALA LUMPUR, April 18 — A new search zone for Flight MH370 should be drawn up if those hunting for the plane that went missing over a year ago are still unable to find any trace of it, a group representing families of those on board the missing plane said today.
The group, Voice370, said data from British satellite firm Inmarsat — which it said is the only reliable data that led authorities to search for MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean — has not been fully disclosed until today.
“We urge the authorities to release all data and go back to the drawing table to re-evaluate the new search zone if the Priority Area turns up with zero debris,” the group told Malay Mail Online in an email response.
To a question on whether Voice370 thinks the search should be conducted elsewhere, the group acknowledged that authorities were basing their search area “on the only available evidence with a semblance of credibility”.
“We acknowledge the Independent Group of Experts who worked in parallel with the authorities also arrived at a similar conclusion, but that does not mean every other possibility should be discounted,” it said.
But Voice370 stressed that MH370 theories that are coupled with credible evidence should be verified by independent investigators before being dismissed.
The transport ministers of three nations — Malaysia, Australia, China — said in a joint statement on Thursday that they will expand and extend the search if necessary.
“Should the aircraft not be found within the current search area, ministers agreed to extend the search by an additional 60,000 square kilometres to bring the search area to 120,000 square kilometres, and thereby, cover the entire highest probability area identified by expert analysis,” the statement read.
But Sydney-based aviation professor Jason Middleton was quoted by Time magazine as saying that it is difficult to justify the decision to double the search area if no trace of the plane is found once the current search is completed.
“I’m not in the position of being one of the relatives, and I deeply sympathise with their situation. However, once the areas of highest priority have been searched, there are diminishing returns when increasing the area,” he said in the report.
Middleton also claimed that satellite data analysis by Inmarsat relied on by search authorities is “impossible” to corroborate due to lack of access to the company’s proprietary information.
“The Inmarsat stuff is untestable. And although I’m not suggesting they’ve done anything improper, the search area relies very much on their calculations, and if they have made errors, we are not able to replicate their calculations.
“And there’s a chance they’ve stuffed up and the plane is not there at all,” the University of New South Wales academic said.
MH370 was officially declared an aviation accident on January 29 by the Malaysian Department of Civil Aviation, and its missing passengers and crew presumed dead.
An international search has yet to recover any wreckage from Flight MH370 since it vanished without a trace en route to Beijing, China, from Kuala Lumpur on March 8 last year.
Both Australia and Malaysia are splitting the A$120 million (RM325 million) pledged for the search, while the expanded search phase is likely to cost the two nations an additional A$50 million.
