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Australian gov't reiterates commitment to search for MH370

Xinhua, January 30, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Australian government remains committed to the search for MH370, the Joint Agency Coordination Center (JACC) for the search of MH370 said in a statement on Friday.

Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, with 239 people on board, disappeared shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur on March 8, 2014 en-route to Beijing.

Director General of Malaysian Department of Civil Aviation Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said on Thursday that the Malaysian government officially declared the disappearance of MH370 an accident, and all 239 people on board the plane were presumed dead.

"The Australian Government notes the declaration of accident relating to the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 that was delivered by the Government of Malaysia," the JACC statement said.

"We understand that the families of those on board MH370 are experiencing enormous grief, heightened by not knowing the circumstances under which the aircraft disappeared."

"Providing support to those families, particularly at this difficult time, will continue to be a priority," the statement added.

"The Australian Government will continue to work collaboratively with the Governments of Malaysia and the People's Republic of China in service of the families of those on board and the wider travelling public."

According to the latest operational search report by the JACC, four ships, namely Fugro Equator, Fugro Discovery, Fugro Support and Go Phoenix, are either in the search area or on the way to the search area.

So far, around 18,000 square kilometres of the seafloor have been searched, which is around 30 percent of the priority search area. Around 208,000 square kilometres of the wide search area have been analysed and mapped.

With no significant delays with vessels, equipment or from the weather, the current underwater search area may be largely completed around May 2015.

On April 28, 2014, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced the search for MH370 would move from surface search and recovery to a new intensified underwater search.

At a Tripartite Meeting on May 5, 2014, Malaysia, China and Australia agreed that the next phase of the search for MH370 involved three major stages, namely reviewing all existing information and analysis to define a priority search zone of up to 60,000 square kilometres along the seventh arc in the southern Indian Ocean; conducting a bathymetric survey to map the sea floor in the defined search area; and acquiring the specialist services required for a comprehensive search of the sea floor in that area.

In the recent Federal Budget, the Australian government announced it will provide up to 89.9 million AU dollars (72 million U.S. dollars) over two years from 201314 as part of Australia's contribution to the search for MH370. Endi