Media coverage dwindles after lengthy search for MH370

With the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines aircraft Flight MH370 has been ongoing for 45 days without any result, media coverage of the multinational search operation has noticeably dwindled. There are less media marquees, equipment or vehicles seen at the normal spots near Dumas House, here, where the Joint Agency Coordination Centre(JACC) normally organises its press conferences, or at the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Base Pearce in Bullsbrook, about 40 minutes' drive from Perth. Other than daily updates via media statements through JACC's official website and email, no press conferences have taken place since last Monday. An RAAF media officer who wished not to be named told Bernama and the rest of the Malaysian journalists that media personnel were no longer allowed to enter the base for news coverage since last week. As for the daily visual search operation, she said, it continued as usual like what had been updated by the JACC on Monday morning.

Crew from the RAAF were also on duty as usual despite the majority of them celebrating Easter, she added. The focus now is on the underwater search operation involving the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) called Bluefin-21, deployed since last Monday. However, this too has so far yielded nothing of interest that could lead to the discovery of the Boeing 777-200 aircraft that veered far off its Kuala Lumpur-to-Beijing flight path after taking off from the KL International Airport on March 8. It was to have arrived in Beijing at 6.30am the same day.

On Saturday, Malaysia's acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein stated that Bluefin-21 was expected to finish scanning the underwater search zone next week. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott had also recenty indicated the need to regroup and reconsider the search and recovery operation if there were no new updates. The media here are expecting a press conference on the matter in the next two days.

Flight MH370 with 239 people onboard disappeared from radar screens about an hour into its flight while over the South China Sea.

A multinational search was mounted for the plane, first in the South China Sea and then, after it was learnt that the plane had veered off course, in the southern Indian Ocean.