Govt ready to resume search for MH370 if credible evidence emerges

Govt ready to resume search for MH370 if credible evidence emerges

Transport Minister Loke Siew Fook says he will meet families who claim they have found more pieces of the missing plane.

Flight MH370, carrying 239 people onboard, disappeared on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014. (File pic)
KUALA LUMPUR:
The government is ready to resume the search for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 if there are credible leads, says Transport Minister Loke Siew Fook.

“The government has already stated that if credible evidence emerges and the findings convince us that we can find the missing aircraft, we will reconsider.

“We don’t completely shut down the possibility of resuming the search mission, but the government can’t go on searching without credible leads, without any solid evidence,” he said when winding up the debate on the Supply Bill at the committee level for his ministry in the Dewan Rakyat sitting.

Flight MH370, carrying 239 people on board, disappeared on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014, and became one of the world’s greatest aviation mysteries.

The deep-sea search mission carried out for almost three years to locate the missing aircraft in the Indian Ocean covered 120,000 sq km but ended fruitlessly. Australia, China and Malaysia were involved in the search.

Another mission carried out by Ocean Infinity, a US-based underwater exploration company, stopped on May 29 without any significant findings.

Loke said he would meet with a group of relatives of MH370 crew members and passengers who said they had found new pieces of debris from the aircraft and planned to hand them over to the government.

On another development, Loke said the government was planning to install more Automated Enforcement System (AES) cameras in places identified as accident-prone areas including through the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR).

“We are in discussion with PLUS Berhad which offered assistance to the government to help install AES cameras in the accident-prone areas,” he said, describing the move as a win-win situation.

Loke stressed that the government did not intend to collect a high number of summonses but the move was more a reminder to road users to always drive prudently and safely.

The Dewan Rakyat sitting continues on Monday.

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