Approach In Search For MH370 May Be Reviewed If No Concrete Evidence - Hishammuddin

KUALA LUMPUR, April 18 (Bernama) -- The approach in the search for the vanished Malaysia Airlines MH370 aircraft, currently based in the southern Indian Ocean, may be reviewed if the information gleaned from the search which enters its 41st day Thursday, does not meet its objective. Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said this was among the matters raised between Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Prime Minister Najib Razak in a telephone conversation Thursday morning. "Abbott said that if within a stipulated time, not in terms of days but in terms of what information we received, (we) did not achieve the target, an announcement will be made whereby, we may have to relook and reconsider the approach used. "...this does not mean we will stop the search operation but it is about how the search is carried out, and possibly where," he said at a media conference after an appreciation ceremony in conjunction with the closing of the 2014 Asia Defence Service Exhibition (DSA) here Thursday. He said, other than proving that any action concerning the mission to look for the aircraft would not be carried out without joint discussion, Najib's conversation with Abbott also showed the special relations between the two leaders. Flight MH370 with 239 people departed on March 8 from the KL International Airport at 12.41am and went off the radar, an hour later over the South China Sea. The aircraft was scheduled to arrive in Beijing at 6.30am on the same day. A search and rescue operation involving 26 countries was launched to find the aircraft, beginning in the South China Sea and then expanded to the Melaka Strait and Andaman Sea and now in the southern Indian Ocean. The search in the southern Indian Ocean started on March 20, namely, on the 13th day of the international search for MH370, after Abbott announced the nation's satellite had observed two objects which could be related to the search for the aircraft. In the same development, Hishamuddin said the search mission and investigation into the cause of the disappearance of Flight MH370 were not influenced at all by speculations by irresponsible quarters. "We will not entertain anything which can adversely affect the investigation and the search mission. In fact, we believe every speculation will be answered when the investigation committee and panel of inquiry is set up," he added. Hishammuddin said the proposal to set up an international panel of inquiry, which should have been tabled before the Cabinet yesterday, had to be postponed to the coming Cabinet meeting. "We could not distribute the paper to all relevant ministries for their comments on time. So, I will table the paper again to the Cabinet, and hope the people will not speculate on the status of that panel (of) experts until the Cabinet decides," he said. Hishammuddin reiterated that it would not be fair to the Malaysian Government to just focus on the Chinese families in this unprecedented incident because the missing MH370 also involved 14 other nationalities on board, including Malaysians. He also said that, for the time being, there was no need for the government to buy new equipments such as satellite with radar, because of the MH370 tragedy, as the most important thing was to upgrade all the technologies that it had. "I have been briefed...and 2014 DSA gave me the opportunity to gauge our strengths and weaknesses. But, at the end of the day, we have to leave it to the air force and the end-users will advise me as to what is best," he said. -- BERNAMA