Search area for MH370 to be doubled if necessary

KUALA LUMPUR: The search zone for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 will be doubled if nothing is found in the huge undersea area now being scanned for wreckage, Malaysia, Australia and China announced Thursday.
A joint statement released after ministers from the three countries met in Kuala Lumpur said the Indian Ocean search zone would be expanded to 120,000 square kilometres if the current area comes up empty.
"Based on the advice of the experts of the search strategy working group, if the aircraft is not found within the current 60,000 square kilometres search area, we have collectively decided to extend the search by an additional 60,000 square kilometres within the highest-probability area," Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said at a press briefing.
Liow was speaking to reporters after a tripartite meeting between him, Australian Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss and China's Minister of Transport Yang Chuantang.
The Boeing 777 with 239 passengers and crew aboard mysteriously veered off its route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014, creating one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries and sparking a massive international effort to find it.
About 60% of an initial suspected crash area – determined by satellite signals indicating the plane went down in the southern Indian Ocean – has already been searched in the Australian-led, high-tech effort to scan a forbiddingly deep sea floor, with more than 223 objects being identified and analysed.
Liow said the estimated cost for the second phase of the search to be A$50 million (RM141.8 million).
"This cost will be shared equally by Malaysia and Australia - just like we shared the cost for the first 60,000 square kilometres," he said, noting that the cost shared for the first phase amounted to A$120 million.
Liow also said that Malaysia is grateful to the two countries for their support in the search for the plane.
Truss commented that efforts to search the new area would take "at least the rest of this year" due to the difficulties faced by the operation in the remote and storm-tossed seas.
"As the new search area surrounds the old one, you can assume the seabed is broadly similar," Truss said to AFP.
Weather, the extreme depths being searched, and the rugged nature of the underwater territory in the zone about 1,600km off Australia's west coast have made for a slow, frustrating search.
Australian authorities had earlier said the current search was expected to be completed in May.
Angry next-of-kin – who have accused Malaysia of bungling its initial response and being slow to share information, have issued emotional pleas for authorities to continue searching even if no debris is found in the current area.
Truss said Australia and Malaysia would continue to share the costs of the expensive search.
"Both our governments are committed to making sure we can do this job properly.
"We have the best equipment in the world and we are satisfied the search is being conducted in a very professional way," Truss was quoted saying to AFP.
The meeting also discussed possible next steps if wreckage is found so that a recovery operation can quickly swing into action.