Melbourne:
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Monday he would “please reopen” the search for Flight MH370 if “convincing” evidence emerged, opening the door to a renewed hunt a decade after the plane disappeared.
“If there is compelling evidence that it should be reopened, we would certainly be happy to reopen it,” he said when asked about this during a visit to Melbourne.
His comments came as families commemorated 10 years since the plane disappeared in the Indian Ocean with 239 people on board.
“I don't think it's a technical problem. It is an issue that affects people's lives and whatever needs to be done needs to be done,” he said.
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, a Boeing 777 aircraft, disappeared from radar screens on March 8, 2014, while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
Despite the largest search in aviation history, the plane was never found and the operation was suspended in January 2017.
About 500 family members and their supporters gathered at a shopping center near the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur on Sunday for a “day of remembrance”, with many visibly overcome with grief.
Some of the relatives came from China, where almost two-thirds of the passengers of the doomed plane came from.
“The last ten years have been a non-stop emotional rollercoaster for me,” Grace Nathan, a 36-year-old Malaysian lawyer whose mother, Anne Daisy, 56, was on board the flight, told AFP.
Speaking to the crowd, she called on the Malaysian government to conduct a new search.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke told reporters that “Malaysia is committed to finding the plane… cost is not the issue”.
He told family members at the meeting that he would meet with officials from Texas-based marine exploration company Ocean Infinity, which previously conducted an unsuccessful search, to discuss a new operation.
“We are now waiting for them to provide suitable dates and I hope to meet them soon,” he said.
An earlier Australian-led search that covered 120,000 square kilometers (46,000 sq mi) in the Indian Ocean found barely any trace of the plane, with only a few pieces of debris picked up.
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