MH370
Press Briefing by Hishammuddin Hussein, Minister of Defence and Acting Minister
of Transport
Thursday, March 20, 05:30 PM MYT
+0800
At 10:00 this morning, the Prime
Minister received a call from the Prime Minister of Australia, informing him
that ‘two possible objects related to the search’ for MH370 had been identified
in the Southern Indian Ocean. The Australian authorities in Kuala Lumpur have
also briefed me on the situation, and the Australian Foreign Minister has
spoken to the Foreign Minister of Malaysia.
The Australian Maritime Safety
Authority (AMSA) continues co-ordinating the search for the missing Malaysia
Airlines aircraft within Australia’s search and rescue area, with assistance
from the Australian Defence Force, the New Zealand Air Force, and the US Navy.
AMSA’s Rescue Co-ordination
Centre (RCC) Australia has received satellite imagery of objects possibly
related to the search for MH370.
RCC Australia received an expert
assessment of commercial satellite imagery today. The images were captured by
satellite. They may not be related to the aircraft.
The assessment of these images
was provided by the Australian Geospatial Intelligence Organisation as a
possible indication of debris southwest of Perth.
As a result of this information,
four aircraft have been re-orientated to an area 2,500 kilometres southwest of
Perth.
A Royal Australian Air Force P-3
Orion aircraft arrived in the area at about 10:50AM.
Another 3 aircraft have been
tasked by RCC Australia to the area, including a second RAAF Orion, a Royal New
Zealand Air Force Orion, and a US Navy P-8 Poseidon.
The Poseidon was expected to
arrive early this afternoon. The second RAAF Orion was expected to depart RAAF
Base Pearce, Perth, mid-afternoon. The New Zealand Orion was due to depart this
afternoon.
An RAAF C-130 Hercules aircraft
has been tasked by RCC Australia to drop datum marker buoys to assist in drift
modelling. They will provide an on-going reference point if the task of
relocating the objects becomes protracted.
A merchant ship that responded to
a shipping broadcast issued by RCC Australia on Monday was also expected to
arrive in the area this afternoon.
The Royal Australian Navy ship
HMAS Success is en route to the area but is some days away. The ship is well
equipped to recover any objects located and proven to be from MH370.
Every effort is being made to
locate the objects seen in the satellite imagery. It must be stressed that
these sightings, while credible, are still to be confirmed.
The search for MH370 is a
multinational effort. I will now give you an update on the assets which have
been deployed.
During the course of this
operation, the Chief of the Defence Force has spoken to his counterparts from
countries including:
• Australia • China • India • Indonesia • Japan • Maldives • Nepal • New Zealand • Singapore • Thailand • Vietnam • The UK • And the USA.
All were very supportive, and all
offered their assistance. As the focus of the search has moved from the South
China Sea and Straits of Malacca to the northern and southern corridors, our
international partners have continued to provide whatever support they can.
A number of assets have been
deployed at different phases of the search and rescue operation.
Currently, there are 18 ships, 29
aircraft and 6 ship-borne helicopters deployed along the northern and southern
corridors, as follows:
In the northern corridor, there
are 4 aircraft:
• 2 from Malaysia • 1 from Japan • And 1 from the US.
In the southern corridor, there
are 25 aircraft:
• 2 from Malaysia • 5 from Australia • 3 from China • 4 from Indonesia • 2 from India • 4 from Japan • 1 from New Zealand • 2 from South Korea • 1 from the UAE • And 1 from the USA.
All 18 ships are in the southern
corridor:
• 6 from Malaysia • 1 from Australia • 5 from China • And 6 from Indonesia.
This deployment includes 6
helicopters:
• 3 from Malaysia, and 3 from
China.
Until we are certain that we have
located MH370, search and rescue operations will continue in both corridors. I
can confirm that Malaysia is sending 2 aircraft to Kazakhstan, and the UK is
planning to send 1 ship to the southern corridor.
In addition to the assets I just
listed above, a number of countries in the northern corridor are carrying out
search and rescue operations within their own territory:
• China is using every means
possible, including 21 satellites, to search the area within its borders, and
is ready to send more ships and aircraft wherever they are needed.
• In Cambodia, 4 helicopters are
conducting search operations within Cambodian territory.
• The Laos Air Force is carrying
out search operations within Laos.
• Singapore are using their
International Information Fusion Centre, where a Malaysian representative is
stationed, to notify mariners and help with the search.
• The Thai military are
conducting search operations in the northern part of Thailand with all
available aircraft.
• And Vietnam are conducting
search operations within their territory using an unspecified number of
aircraft.
Together this represents a
significant international force deployment. I am thankful for the co-operation
of our partners as we continue to focus on finding MH370.
The high-level team I announced
yesterday is leaving for Beijing this evening.
I would also like to confirm that
representatives from the Malaysian government spoke to the families who were
present here yesterday.
In addition, the Prime Minister’s
Special Envoy to China, and the Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia, will lead a
briefing today for the Chinese families who are here in Kuala Lumpur.
Also in attendance will be the
Department of Civil Aviation, the Armed Forces, the Royal Malaysia Police, the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and MAS. A similar briefing will also be held for
the other families.
For families around the world,
the one piece of information they want most is the information we just don’t
have: the location of MH370.
Our primary focus has always been
to find the aircraft. And with every passing day, our efforts have intensified.
Yesterday I said that we wanted to reduce the area of the search. We now have a credible lead. There remains much work to be done to deploy the assets. This work will continue overnight. |
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