Kuala Lumpur/Perth/Shanghai – Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Friday that he is confident that rescuers know the position of flight MH370’s black box.
“We are confident that we know the position of the black box flight recorder to within some kilometers,” Abbott said as he delivered an address at a luncheon in Shanghai.
“Still, confidence in the approximate position of the black box is not the same as recovering wreckage from almost four and a half kilometers beneath the sea or finally determining all that happened on that flight,” said the visiting prime minister.
Abbott said the missing of the MH370 “is one of the great mysteries of our time,” and “it is probably the most difficult search in human history.”
“Amidst tragedy, though, there is hope,” Abbott said, noting that many countries have searched the remote ocean for the wreckage.
Media reports suggest 15 aircraft and 13 ships will search for the missing plane on Friday, one day after an Australian AP-3C Orion aircraft detected another possible signal.
Abbott, on a four-day visit to China, is scheduled to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday afternoon in Beijing, when he will update the President with the latest on the search.
During his speech, Abbott also expressed his shared grief with all the bereaved, especially the friends and family of the 154 Chinese victims, and offered them the assurance that Australia will not rest until “we have done everything we can to provide comfort and closure”.
On Wednesday, Premier Li Keqiang said he appreciated Australia’s help in the search when talking with Abbott on the sidelines of the Boao Forum for Asia annual conference held in south China’s Hainan Province.
Li said the international cooperation showed countries in the region are capable of meeting challenges with concerted efforts.
The plane disappeared on March 8 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.
The plane’s flight recorder could solve the mystery of why the plane veered so far off course. The battery of the black box usually can last for only a month and is expected to die very soon. Source: Xinhua