Malaysia's Capability Prevails In Mobilising Search For MH370 - Hishammuddin

LANGKAWI (Kedah, Malaysia), March 6 (Bernama) -- Malaysians should not forget the strength of the country in the search for Malaysia Airline's flight MH370 which disappeared almost a year ago, Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said here, Friday. Hishammuddin, who was the Acting Transport Minister when the MAS Boeing 777 disappeared from the radar on March 8 last year, said the incident had shown Malaysia's ability in mobilising expertise from 26 nations in the biggest ever search done in history. "As we remember what we (had) gone through in this last one year (to search for the missing aircraft), we must not forget the strength that we had achieved and the challenge that we are going to face," he told reporters here. Flight MH370 was bound for Beijing during an early hour flight with 239 people from 14 countries on board, when it vanished from the radar screen about an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur. On Jan 29, the Malaysian government officially declared it as an accident under international aviation rules, and that all those onboard were presumed to have lost their lives. Hishammuddin said although Malaysia had no sophisticated equipment to conduct a search over such a massive area and in a challenging situation, the country's good image had enabled it to lure assistances from the other nations which possessed the technology to take up such task. "I believe that not many countries would be able to do that in this world and this goes to show that our good relationship with the other countries involved had led them to come in voluntarily to assist us," he said. During his tenure as the acting Transport Minister, he said Malaysia had sealed an agreement with Australia and China, the last two nations to commit themselves to continue with the search, and any changes on this understanding would have to be explained transparently. He said the incident had not only led him to think solely of the fate of the crew and passengers of MH370 but also those involved who risked their lives in searching for the missing aircraft. "My heart goes to the families of the MH370...when I say families (it is) not just the passengers and the crew but also the families of all those involved in the search there ... there are thousands of them out there," he added. -- BERNAMA