News Digest

Malaysian minister ‘99.9% sure’ MH370 will be found by sonar probe

Malaysia’s defence minister has said he is “99.9% sure” the sonar technology being used in the hunt for missing flight MH370 will find the doomed jet. Hishammuddin Hussein officially launched the Malaysian contracted vessel GO Phoenix and its underwater probe at Fremantle Port in Perth on Wednesday. The probe, which can go to depths of nearly four miles (6.4km) and cover up to 75 sq miles (194 sq km) per day, is being used in the search area 1,200 miles off the coast of Western Australia. GO Phoenix is one of three ships being used in the search.

This is cutting-edge technology. That’s my personal view based on experts’ opinion – 99.9% sure (sonar devices can find it). But the ocean is huge so it depends on narrowing the search area and that’s the challenge.

Malaysia’s defence minister Hishammuddin Hussein

Mr Hishammuddin said there was no timeline for the search, but if there was he would leave it up to the experts to advise. He said Malaysia has never strayed from its focus to find the plane despite numerous obstacles and setbacks. The GO Phoenix is expected to depart from Fremantle on Thursday to join the search operation off southwestern Australia. MH370 disappeared with 239 people on board during its March 8 flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

All that could have been done to find the plane at this point has been done. This is it, the next phase. The search goes on.

Hishammuddin Hussein