Ministers to meet on next steps in search for MH370

SEPANG: A tripartite meeting between the transport ministers of Malaysia, Australia and China will be held soon to discuss the way forward in the search for missing Flight MH370.

Civil Aviation Department (DCA) director-general Datuk Seri Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said the three countries remained committed to the search for the missing aircraft, which would go on until next year.

“We are looking for a suitable date for the ministers to meet on the way forward in searching for MH370.

“I attended a meeting of senior officials in Beijing last week and the three countries are still committed to the search at the current existing area,” he told reporters at the KLIA here yesterday.

Search activities in the southern Indian Ocean, said Azharuddin, would continue because the discovery of the flaperon at La Reunion island in July was consistent with the drift models.

Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, he said, had been briefed on the Beijing meeting, which was attended by officers from China’s Transport and Foreign ministries and Australia’s Joint Agency Coordination Centre and Transport Safety Bureau.

Malaysia was represented by officials from the Transport Ministry and DCA as well as representatives from the next-of-kin committee.

Australia is leading the search in the southern Indian Ocean for the plane, which mysteriously diverted off course on March 8 last year and disappeared with 239 people on board.

On the haze, Azharuddin said DCA was monitoring the visibility level at airports and would close them should it dip too low for the pilots to manoeuvre the aircraft.