MH370 ministerial tripartite meeting in KL Thursday

A ministerial tripartite meeting between Malaysia, Australia and China will be held in Kuala Lumpur on April 16.

The meeting will see the presence of Malaysian Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss, and China's Transport Minister, Yang Chuantang.

The meeting, a follow-up to similar meetings held in Perth and Canberra last year, will see the three nations reviewing the search efforts of the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, said Liow.

"We will review the data and decide on next steps based on advice by the experts from the search strategy working group (SSWG)," he said in a media statement today.

The SSWG, which amongst others include the Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC), the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) of the United States of America, Boeing, Thales UK, Civil Aviation Administration of China, the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch and the Department of Civil Aviation Malaysia, have collaborated to independently review and refine all available data which clearly indicates a highly probable search area close to a long but narrow arc of the southern Indian Ocean.

Liow said the crucial thing to note is that the handshake from the SATCOM data SSWG analysed was specific to MH370.

He added that Malaysia, to date, has committed more than AUD60 million (RM168 million) for the search and recovery efforts along with the Australian government.

Meanwhile, latest updates on the ATSB website dated April 8 said, GO Phoenix, one of four official vessels in the search for the missing flight, had departed the search area on for the Fremantle Port in Perth to conduct a routine resupply visit.

The Fugro Discovery vessel departed Fremantle on 2 April and conducted calibration trials at the test site before commencing transit to return to the search area. The vessel had a winch cable replaced and has been equipped with a new towfish 'Intrepid'.

The Fugro Equator vessel arrived at Fremantle on April 8 to conduct a routine 24-hour resupply visit while Fugro Supporter departed the search area on April 4 for Fremantle to conduct a routine resupply visit.

To date, over 37,000 square kilometres or 61 percent of the priority area has been searched.