Malaysia Airlines MH370: Malaysian PM Najib Razak briefed on search efforts
Updated
Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak has been briefed on the search for missing flight MH370 at the Pearce RAAF base in Perth.
The Malaysia Airlines plane is believed to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean 25 days ago with 239 people on board.
Mr Najib arrived at the search headquarters on Thursday and met with crew members from Australia, Malaysia, China and New Zealand.
He was greeted by Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Defence Minister David Johnston and the head of the search operation, retired Air Chief Marshall Angus Houston.
Mr Najib personally thanked the crews involved, saying the continued efforts of 26 nations in the search for the missing plane will not be forgotten.
He singled out Australia's efforts in coordinating the search and described the country as a "good friend".
"We'll continue to work closely with the Australian Government to draw up a comprehensive agreement on the search.
"The search area is vast and the conditions are not easy. But a new refined area of search has given us new hope."
'Extraordinary mystery'
Mr Abbott says Australia remains committed to the search and would "spare no effort".
"It is a very difficult search, the most difficult in human history, but as far as Australia is concerned we are throwing everything we have at it," he said.
"We do owe it to the families of the 239 people on board. We do owe it to our good friend Malaysia. We owe it to the people and government of China.
"We owe it to the troubled citizens of the wider world to do everything we can to solve this extraordinary mystery."
Nine aircraft and 10 sea vessels are now involved in the search to locate any debris or wreckage from the plane. A British submarine has also joined the search.
HMS Tireless will assist the fleet of aircraft from six nations and numerous ships already involved in the search, 1,800 kilometres south-west of Perth.
An Australian Navy ship carrying specialist equipment to detect the black box of the missing plane is currently en route to the search area.
The Ocean Shield, carrying a towed pinger locator and an underwater vehicle, is not expected to reach the search area until tomorrow.
Once in the area, the Ocean Shield will tow the equipment at just 5 kilometres per hour in an attempt to pick up a signal from the plane's black box.
Timing is crucial as authorities say the plane's black box may only have enough battery power to send out a signal until April 7.
Conditions improve but search still 'complex'
The head of the search operation, former Australian Defence Force Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, says the mission is one of the most difficult ever undertaken anywhere in the world and it will continue for some time.
"I can't think of a set of circumstances in a search and recovery as demanding and as complex as this," he said yesterday.
"We have to keep searching and searching with vigour, because what's really vital here is to find some wreckage, some debris on the surface of the ocean."
He says a lack of detailed information about the plane's final movements makes the search extremely difficult.
"Over time if we don't find anything on the surface we are going to have to think about what we do next," he said.
The weather bureau says conditions in the search area are expected to be favourable today with good visibility and light winds.
RAAF Flight Lieutenant Dave O'Biten, who piloted one of the search aircraft yesterday, says teams remain determined despite the frustration of not finding anything.
"We're finding it frustrating because we're trying to help everyone out," he said.
"We want to get out there and find something just as much as everyone else does."
Cockpit communications show nothing unusual
Mr Najib's arrival comes two days after Malaysian authorities released the full transcript of communications between the pilots of MH370 and air traffic controllers, which they say showed nothing unusual.
The 43 separate transmissions, over almost 54 minutes, are thick with air-traffic and navigational jargon and give no hint of trouble aboard the ill-fated plane.
The transcript shows Malaysian air traffic control first bidding MH370 "good night", as it instructs the pilots to contact controllers in Vietnam, over which the plane was due to fly.
The final entry from just after 1:19am comes from one of the two MH370 pilots, who says "good night, Malaysian three seven zero".
The plane disappeared from radar shortly thereafter and is yet to be found, though Malaysian investigators believe it was deliberately diverted and flew on for hours to the Indian Ocean, where it is presumed to have crashed.
The transcript - and particularly the final words from MH370 - has been the subject of much speculation following earlier statements by authorities and the airline that the last transmission from the plane was a casual "All right, good night".
That apparent non-standard sign-off fuelled speculation that one of the pilots - either captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53, or first officer Fariq Abdul Hamid, 27 - diverted the plane on purpose.
A statement from Malaysia's acting transport minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, said the transcript was "initially held as part of the police investigation", but gave no other reason for the delay.
Police rule out passengers as suspects
Malaysia's police chief has ruled out all passengers as suspects in the disappearance of flight MH370.
Khalid Abu Bakar says none of the more than 200 passengers was involved in hijacking, sabotage or had personal or psychological problems.
The focus of the criminal investigation is still on the cabin crew, especially the pilots but officials have not yet indicated any possible motive.
Without any concrete leads, it has made the search for the missing aircraft difficult.
Officials insist the final path the plane took was the result of a deliberate action by someone on board but after 25 days, the police chief says it is possible the case may never be solved.
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