Report citing detection of potential aircraft wreckage to be assessed

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said here Tuesday in a statement that the credibility of a report citing the detection of potential aircraft wreckage in the Bay of Bengal would be assessed.

"China and Australia are also aware of this report. Malaysia is working with its international partners to assess the credibility of this information," he said.

A marine exploration company based in Australia had said it might have found the wreckage site of the missing Malaysian flight MH370 in the Bay of Bengal, some 5,000 km north of the current search area for the plane, which vanished on March 8 with 239 aboard.

The minister said Malaysia would discuss with international counterparts on issues such as the deployment of assets with deep sea search capabilities, the cost of the operation and how best authorities could ensure the next of kin of those on board the missing plane were properly informed of the latest developments.

Hishammuddin also said Kok Soo Chon, the former director general of the Department of Civil Aviation and also a former permanent representative to the ICAO Council in Montreal, had been appointed as the investigator in charge for the International Investigation Team.

"The International Investigation Team, which has already commenced its work, has accredited representatives from the U.S. National Transport Safety Board (NTSB), the UK Air Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), China's Aircraft Accident Investigation Department (AAID) of The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), France's Bureau d'Enquetes et d' Analyses (BEA), the Austrialia Transport Safety Bereau (ATSB) and representatives of ASEAN from Singapore and Indonesia," he said.

The minister said Boeing, who was under the U.S. Accredited Representative and Rolls Royce and Inmarsat, who were under the UK Accredited Representative, were also included.

The main aim of the International Investigation Team was to evaluate, investigate and determine the actual cause of the incident in order to avoid similar incidents in the future, he said.