MH370 - I just want to know the truth of what happened to MH370, says Hishammuddin

The Malaysian Insider – 14 hours ago

Malaysia is not giving up the search for flight MH370 and will address long-term legal issues involving the missing aircraft and its passengers, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein (pic) said yesterday, although it has been more than a month since the aircraft disappeared.

The acting transport minister said in a media interview published by The Straits Times that it did not matter whether the black box, if found, should be analysed and investigated by Malaysia or Australia.

"Personally, I just want to find out the truth. I want to know what happened to MH370. Doesn't matter how or who or where… but at the end of the day, the world is not so simple and (there are) so many different countries involved," Hishammuddin told reporters.

He said that the Attorney General was already studying issues related to claims by families of the passengers onboard, autopsies and jurisdiction over the black box.

Hishammuddin added that money is the least of his concerns, despite the search being billed as one of the most expensive searches in aviation history with the involvement of manpower and assets from 26 countries.

"Cost-wise, I don't see that as something that has been a hindrance until this moment," he was quoted as saying in the report.

He also underlined the difficulty of the search efforts ahead, adding that Malaysia is deploying more assets soon to the search area, after Australian and Chinese search operations failed to pick up new pulse signals, or "pings", after the weekend.

"Once we find the black box, we have to go down deeper. We're not talking about aeroplanes any more. We're not talking about ships any more. We're talking about submersibles," he said.

Meanwhile, a fleet of ships and planes continued to hunt for elusive signals and debris from the missing aircraft, scouring tens of thousands of square kilometres of remote Indian Ocean, AFP reported today.

Searchers are trying to detect more "pings" from below the waves and have pledged to spend several more days trying to pinpoint the crash site before a mini-sub is launched to comb the seabed.

Up to 11 military aircraft, four civil aircraft and 14 ships will assist in today's search, over a zone covering 75,423 square kilometres, Australia's Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) said.

Ocean Shield, which earlier picked up two series of pulses, one lasting two hours and 20 minutes and the other 13 minutes, is operating at the northern end of the defined search area, JACC said.

The Chinese ship Haixun 01, which had earlier also detected possible "pings", and Britain's HMS Echo are working the southern end. – April 9, 2014.