Malaysia,China,Australia to Discuss Next Step in Search for MH370
2 July 2016 11:44 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Government ministers from Malaysia, Australia and China will meet in Kuala Lumpur on July 19 to discuss the future of the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, Malaysian state news agency Bernama reported on Friday.
Flight MH370, carrying 239 passengers and crew, disappeared on March 8, 2014 enroute from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. A wing part, known as a flaperon, washed up on the French island of Reunion in July 2015.
An underwater search operation for the aircraft, which disappeared two years ago, is underway, spanning 120,000 square kilometres of the southern Indian Ocean.
According to Bernama, Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said the meeting would focus what to do once the search of the designated area is completed.
"We (Australia, China and Malaysia) will not call off the search. We are committed to completing the 120,000 sq km search - so far, we have completed 107,000 sq km.
"We will make an announcement on the way forward," Liow was quoted as saying.
The search, which was originally scheduled to end in June, had been hampered by bad weather and will resume in October, he added.The Australian Transport Safety Bureau had previously said the three countries had agreed not to extend the search beyond 120,000 sq km.
REUTERS
