CREDIT: REUTERS/JASON LEE
(Reuters) — Malaysians are disappointed with the delay of the search for MH370 after officials said a tropical cyclone might disrupt the search on Tuesday (April 22), while the latest emergency landing of another Malaysia Airlines (MAS) plane raise questions over safety issues.
A tropical cyclone heading south over the Indian Ocean caused the air search for a missing Malaysian jetliner to be suspended on Tuesday, as a U.S. submarine drone neared completion of its undersea search without any sign of wreckage.
The daily air and sea sorties have continued for a week since Australian authorities said they would end that component of the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which disappeared on March 8 with 239 people on board.
But on Tuesday, hours after authorities said up to 10 military aircraft and 10 ships would join the day’s search, they said the air search had been suspended because of poor weather as a result of Tropical Cyclone Jack.
With the lack of prove and evidence, some Malaysians say it is disappointing the search is stretching over such a long period of time.
“Actually we must know all the evidence that says that it actually landed in the Indian Ocean. There’s no prove and nothing been shown and even the debris is not shown at all. So I think it’s a very very disappointing matter,” said Gauythiri Kesaven.
The ships involved in the day’s search about 1,600 kms (990 miles) northwest of the Australian city of Perth would continue with their planned activities, the centre added.
The setback occurred as the $4 million U.S. Navy submarine Bluefin-21 was scheduled to complete its mission as soon as Wednesday with the search officials confirming the device is yet to find any sign of wreckage.
The authorities have turned up no conclusive evidence of the aircraft’s ultimate location but believe sonar signals, or “pings”, detected in the Indian Ocean search area several weeks ago may have emanated from the plane’s “black box” recorder.
But after more than a week of daily sweeps of the largely unmapped stretch of ocean floor some 4.5 kms (2.8 miles) deep and 2,000 kms (1,200 miles) northwest of the Australian city of Perth, the drone is yet to produce any sign of wreckage, officials said on Tuesday.
“Quite late because now we’re talking about living in the 21st century and so much science has progressed and all these things. But it’s been almost two months and there is no trace. So really, I don’t know what to say,” said Mohammad Fadzili.
Another Malaysia Airlines plane MH192 with 166 people on board turned back and landed safely at Kuala Lumpur airport early on Monday (April 21) because one of the tyres on its main landing gear burst during takeoff, the airline said.
“The latest incident also triggers how safe is airlines now. It’s supposed to be one of the safest airlines but I don’t know what’s really happening,” said Krishna Subramaniam.
Malaysia Airlines said tyre debris was noticed on the runway at Kuala Lumpur International Airport 16 minutes after the plane had taken off for Bangalore.
The captain of the Boeing 737-800, carrying 159 passengers and seven crew, was alerted immediately and airport fire rescue services were deployed. The jet landed safely.
Flight MH192 was rescheduled to depart again later on Monday, MAS said in a statement.