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 Authorities are under growing pressure to decide their next course
of action as the Bluefin-21 drone nears the end of its first sweep
of remote seabed which authorities believe is the most likely
resting place of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 which vanished on
March 8 with 239 people on board.
The Bluefin-21 is expected to finish its targeted search of a 10
square kms (6.2 square mile) stretch of ocean floor, where a signal
suspected to be from the plane's black box was detected, come
Wednesday. No wreckage has yet been found.
"Bluefin-21 has now completed more than 80 percent of the focused
underwater search area and further missions are planned," the Perth
based Joint Agency Coordination Centre told Reuters in an email.
"The search will continue. We are currently consulting very closely
with our international partners on the best way to effect this for
the future."
As the Bluefin embarked on its 10th trip to depths of more than 4.5
kms (2.8 miles), some 2,000 kms (1,200 miles) northwest of the
Australian city of Perth, a tropical cyclone heading south over the
Indian Ocean suspended the air search.
"It has been determined that the current weather conditions are
resulting in heavy seas and poor visibility, and would make any air
search activities ineffective and potentially hazardous," the JACC
said.
The ships involved in the day's search about 1,600 kms (990 miles)
northwest of the Australian city of Perth would continue with their
planned activities, the center added.
The search coordinator, retired Australian Air Chief Marshal Angus
Houston, said on April 14 that the air and surface component of the
operation would end about a week ago.
But daily sorties have continued unabated in what is shaping to be
the most expensive search in aviation history, involving some two
dozen nations.
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"There will be no change to our mission of one nine-hour flight per
day," U.S. 7th Fleet public affairs officer Commander William J.
Marks told Reuters on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, a statement attributed to the families of passengers on
board the missing flight accused the Malaysian government of giving
information about the investigation to the media before them and
demanded "regular pre-payments" of compensation before the
investigation was complete.
Many family members have been critical of the Malaysian government's
handling of the so far fruitless search.
"We don't expect that they find all of the plane, or all of the
bodies, or even that they know everything about how this surreal
situation happened, but we do expect at least a tiny bit of concrete
evidence," said the statement, published on the families' Facebook
page on Tuesday.
Until conclusive proof confirms the plane's fate, the Malaysian
government has "an obligation to make regular pre-payments to the
families in need and they have an obligation to exert themselves
beyond repeated attempts to force a closure of the issue".
(Editing by Michael Perry)
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