Malaysia, flight relatives talk financial aid
Print Edition
AN unmanned submarine continued to search for any signs of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 yesterday as a Malaysian official met relatives of passengers in Kuala Lumpur.
Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Hamzah Zainuddin talked to the relatives about where to go next and financial assistance was discussed, with family members urged to submit a plan for consideration. He declined to elaborate further, but said a fund could possibly be set up by the government or Malaysia Airlines.
“We realize this is an excruciating time for the families of those on board,” said Zainuddin, who heads a committee overseeing the needs of next of kin. “No words can describe the pain they must be going through. We understand the desperate need for information on behalf of the families and those watching around the world.”
He said he would visit Beijing soon to shore up bilateral relations between Malaysia and China. Two-thirds of the missing plane’s 227 passengers were Chinese, and many of their family members have been angered by Malaysia’s handling of the investigation, with some accusing the government of lying, incompetence or participating in a cover-up.
After nearly a week of sweeping the bottom of the Indian Ocean with sonar, the unmanned sub began its eighth mission yesterday. The yellow device has already covered about half of its focused search area, but has yet to uncover any clues that could shed light on the mysterious disappearance of the plane more than six weeks ago.
Underwater signal
The US Navy’s Bluefin 21 has journeyed beyond its recommended depth of 4.5 kilometers to comb the silt-covered seabed off the coast of western Australia. Its search area forms a 10 kilometer radius around the location of an underwater signal that was believed to have come from the aircraft’s black boxes.
The search center said the sonar scan of the sea floor in that area was expected to be completed sometime next week.
On Saturday, Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein stressed the importance of the weekend submarine missions in the southern Indian Ocean, but stressed that even if no debris is recovered, the scope of the search may be broadened or other assets may be used.
Up to 11 aircraft and 12 ships continue to scan the ocean surface for debris from the Boeing 777, which disappeared on March 8 on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
Radar and satellite data show the jet mysteriously veered far off course and would have run out of fuel in the remote section of the southern Indian Ocean where the search has been focused. Not one piece of debris has been recovered since the hunt began.
There have been numerous leads, but all have turned out to be false. The most promising development came when four underwater signals were detected on April 5 and 8. The sounds were consistent with pings that would emanate from the plane’s flight data and cockpit recorders’ beacons.
The underwater operation is being complicated by the depth of the largely unexplored silt-covered sea floor.
The search coordination center has said the hunt for floating debris on the surface will continue for at least the next few days.
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