Beijing : Chinese naval vessels continued to scour waters southwest of Sumatra Tuesday, one day after Malaysia said missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 “ended” in the southern Indian Ocean.
China has not suspended its search operation in other possible search areas despite Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s announcement Monday on the ill-fated plane, Xinhua reported.
“As the executor of a task, we should not be distracted by the uncertain information from outside,” said Liu Zhonghu, captain of the Jinggangshan amphibious docking vessel.
Liu said the Jinggangshan and another vessel, the Yongxingdao, would continue to do their utmost to comb the target sea area in accordance with previously agreed international search arrangements.
No trace of the missing plane has been found since the two vessels entered their assigned search area near Sumatra early Saturday, an area of some 181,785 sq km between Nias Island and Christmas Island.
Another Chinese naval fleet consisting of supply ship Qiandaohu, missile destroyer Haikou and amphibious transport dock Kunlunshan was expected to arrive in the waters southwest of the Australian port of Perth Wednesday.
Malaysia Airline flight MH370 vanished mysteriously about an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur shortly after midnight March 8.
The plane was scheduled to land in Beijing the same day. The 226 passengers on board included five Indians, 154 Chinese and 38 Malaysians.
The plane lost contact along with its radar signal when it was flying over the air traffic control area of Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.
The search area where the ill-fated passenger jet was assumed to have gone down is 2,500 km southwest of Perth, the capital of Western Australia state. The serahc operation there was suspended Tuesday due to adverse weather.
At a press conference in Kuala Lumpur Monday, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said British investigators from its Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) have confirmed flight MH370 “ended in the southern Indian Ocean”.
“Based on their new analysis, Inmarsat and the AAIB have concluded that MH370 flew along the southern corridor, and that its last position was in the middle of the Indian Ocean, west of Perth,” he added.
Malaysia Airlines, in a statement to the relatives of all those on board, stated: “We deeply regret that we have to assume beyond any reasonable doubt that MH370 has been lost and that none of those on board have survived… we must now accept all evidence suggests the plane went down in the Southern Indian Ocean.”
It, however, stated that the ongoing multinational search operation would continue, “as we seek answers to the questions which remain”.
The multi-national massive search for the lost jetliner is in its third week.