The search in the priority zone where Malaysia Airlines flight 370 is thought to have gone down exactly one year ago is likely to be completed by the end of May, the Australian government has said.
Sunday marks a grim milestone of one year since the plane went missing, along with all of the 239 crew and passengers aboard.
“Assuming no significant delays with vessels, equipment or from the weather, the current underwater search area should be largely completed by the end of May,” the deputy prime minister, Warren Truss, said in a statement.
“Currently four vessels are involved in the underwater search. These vessels employ a range of equipment including side scan sonar, multi-beam echo sounders and video cameras to locate and identify aircraft debris in waters up to 6km deep.”
Judith Zielke, the chief coordinator of the joint agency coordination centre, was cautiously hopeful that the wreckage of the plane would eventually be recovered.
“There is a lot of territory we haven’t covered as yet. We are talking about an area that’s more than 2,500 kilometres away from Perth and we are also talking about waters up to 6,000 metres deep,” she told ABC TV on Sunday.
“The crews are working around the clock 24/7 trying to make sure that they are systematic and methodical and don’t miss anything. We need to be cautious and need to make sure we have covered all of this area first before moving on.”
The prime minister, Tony Abbott, would not be drawn on when Australia, which heads the rescue efforts, would pull the pin on the search.
“It can’t go on forever, but as long as there are reasonable leads the search will go on,” he said.
“The governments of Australia, Malaysia and the People’s Republic of China remain committed to the search for the missing aircraft. The families deserve answers and we are doing all we can to get them,” Truss said.
Abbott said Australia was “reasonably confident of finding the plane”.
“We’ve got 60,000 square kilometres that is the subject of this search. If that’s unsuccessful, there’s another 60,000 square kilometres that we intend to search.”
“A search of this size and scale has never been undertaken before. Ultimately, the wide search area that we are looking in is 1.1m square kilometres. About two-thirds the size of Australia, just to give it as an idea,” Zielke said.
The Malaysian prime minister, Najib Razak, paid tribute to the people undertaking the search.
“Malaysia has brought together a huge international team to find the plane, and we will never forget the dedication of those who have helped,” he said in a written statement released on Sunday.
“The disappearance of MH370 is without precedent, and so too is the search – by far the most complex and technically challenging in aviation history,” he said.
Razak added that “Malaysia remains committed to the search, and hopeful that MH370 will be found”.
