MH370: Hishammuddin to meet US Defence Secretary for new assets

As the search operation for Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370 that disappeared since March 8 enters the new phase, more sophisticated and high-tech assets are required to conduct the deep water search.

Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein announced that he would be meeting with United States Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel in Singapore in two weeks to request for assets to be deployed in the new phase.

He said the commercial entities that had been approached for the deep sea search were mainly oil & gas companies, namely Petronas, Sapura Kencana, Boustead Holdings Berhad and DRB-HICOM Defence Technologies Sdn Bhd (Deftech) and that the assets were now very limited.

"It is important that when I meet with Secretary Hagel in Singapore for the Shangri-La Dialogue, I request from him other assets that I have identified, which the US Navy could assist in providing it to be used in the search.

"These are the Side-scan sonars and this is what I am going to request from Hagel," he said during an exclusive media session with the local media, here.

Side-scan sonars is a sonar system used to create an image of large areas of the sea floor. It is able to provide an understanding of the differences in material and texture type of the seabed.

Hishammuddin also said that since the new phase involved deep sea search, a number of research institutes would be involved as well.

"Research institutes from China, Germany and Japan have been involved and we are getting feedback," he said.

Meanwhile, Hishammuddin also said that he would be meeting with defence ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) on Monday during the Asean Defence Ministers' Meeting (ADMM) in Myanmar.

"Singapore and Indonesia have already agreed to be the accredited members of the independent panels. So now I'm trying to see if there are other countries in Asean that can come and help us.

"Even if we can put Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar on a vessel, which could be a Malaysian vessel or Chinese vessel, having that kind of cooperation is still a lot better than fighting over "rocks" in the middle of the South China Sea," he added.