Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein on Aril 19affirmed that the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH 370will continue despite plans to regroup and reassess the operation.

He said the search team under the Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) set up by Australia and oth
er partners will consider other approaches, including widening thescope of the search and utilising assets that could be relevant to thehunt which entered its 44th day.

Besides maintaining thedeployment of the Bluefin-21 mini-submarine for the underwater search,Malaysian authorities were now looking at the possibility of adding morecommercial assets in the operation, he told reporters.

Companies like Deftech, DRB, Boustead and several Malaysian companieshave met and discussed with their foreign counterparts on how they couldincrease AUVs (autonomous underwater vehicles) to help the searcheffort, added Hishammuddin.

Hishammuddin confirmed that theBluefin-21, an AUV, had captured clear and sharp images of the seabedwhile conducting its underwater search missions.

However, from all six missions conducted, no contacts of interest have been found to date, he said.

He also dismissed media reports indicating that it would take the AUVbetween six weeks to two months to scan the entire underwater searcharea.

The immediate search area that the Bluefin-21 is now scouring should be completed within the next week, he said.-VNA