Malaysian Officials: Hunt for Flight 370 at ‘Critical Stage’
Current Underwater Search Could End Within a Week
Ocean Shield deploying the Bluefin 21
The hunt for the missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 is at a ‘critical’ stage, according to Malaysian officials, as Australian officials announced a plan to end underwater searches for the jet’s flight data recorders within a week.
The narrowing of the search is at a very critical juncture,” said Hishammuddin Hussein, Malaysia’s defense and acting transport minister, at a news conference Saturday.
“Whatever happens in that period, we will then regroup and discuss our next move,” he added. “I appeal to everyone around the world to pray and pray hard that we find something to work on in the next couple of days.”
The report comes as Australian officials said that the current underwater search, currently focused on a small 6.2-mile (10-kilometer) of the southern Indian Ocean’s sea floor, could be completed within a week.
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members when it took off from Kuala on March 8. The plane’s destination was but it disappeared from radar approximately one hour after takeoff after entering Vietnamese air space.
The current search has included Australia, China, Japan, the United States, and the United Kingdom, but has so far failed to find any trace of the plane.
(Photo: U.S. Navy)
