PETALING JAYA, Mar 8: Malaysia is open to holding talks with China and Australia to resume the search for the missing Malaysian Airlines aircraft on flight MH370 which disappeared seven years ago, transport minister Wee Ka Siong said.
In a video message on the eve of the seventh anniversary of the tragedy, he said Malaysia wanted closure as much as the families and friends of the 239 passengers and crew who were on the missing aircraft.
“We are open to discussions to continue this search in collaboration with China and Australia, as well as ensuring that the family members and the victims’ next of kin will continue to be informed of any developments about the aircraft in the future,” said Wee.
“In the search for MH370, the governments of Malaysia, Australia and China have spared no expenses and resources in our collective effort to locate MH370.
“Our shared aim was always to find the aircraft and get the answers,” he said. The decision in January 2017 to suspend search and recovery operations, until new credible evidence was obtained, was made with a heavy heart.
Wee’s video was part of a remembrance event hosted by Voice370, a lobby group for the passengers and crew on flight MH370 when the aircraft disappeared on March 8, 2014, while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
After an international search was called off in 2017, the Malaysian government accepted an offer by Ocean Infinity, a US-based seabed exploration company, to carry out a search using autonomous underwater vehicles across 25,000 sq km of the southern Indian Ocean. The search was called off in May 2018.
