THE Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) has been directed to study thoroughly the Australian Transport Safety Bureau’s (ATSB) final search report and determine if there is more credible evidence on the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said Malaysia would require new credible leads before embarking on new search efforts for the ill-fated flight, which disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014, carrying 239 passengers and crew.

He said a few seabed exploration firms, such as the US’ Ocean Infinity and the Netherlands’ Fugro, had offered to help in the search for MH370 after the scouring of a 46,000-square-mile remote seabed area in the southern Indian Ocean was suspended in January.

“We will also look into the companies’ offer, but the basic criterion for the search is to have credible evidence.

“We cannot continue the search for the sake of continuing, and give false hope to the families and next of kin. We must be responsible for our actions,” Liow told reporters after attending the weekly Cabinet meeting today.

On ATSB’s final report that was released yesterday, which said the reasons for the loss of MH370 could not be established with certainty until the aircraft was found, Liow said the tripartite countries involved in the search, namely Australia, Malaysia and China, would meet and discuss further actions if new credible evidence emerged.

While thanking ATSB for its effort in helping Malaysia look for MH370, Liow, however, said the 440-page report, which was sent to him, was not the final report related to the MH370 search, but only a report from the Australian search team.

Malaysia’s final report should be completed and released within a year of the suspension announcement by the safety investigating team led by Kok Soo Chon, he said.

“We will look into all the details to see if there are any more new clues for us, (to allow us) to look for the plane. We haven’t (given up) and will never give up because as of now, we are still looking for additional credible evidence for us to move on with the search.”

Liow said his ministry was also in the midst of preparing a Cabinet paper, detailing the entire search operation and way forward on what Malaysia could do to find the missing aircraft, to be presented in the Cabinet for deliberation.

Asked when it would be presented to the Cabinet, he said: “That will depend on when the study is completed. We also need to look into and study the ATSB search report that has been sent to us.

“I think Australia has given all the tripatite countries a report each, and we are definitely looking into all the details.

“We understand the feeling of the next of kin, and our thoughts and prayers are always with them. We are committed to searching for credible evidence and looking for closure if possible.”

He said Malaysia had spent nearly RM500 million on the MH370 search over the past three years.

Asked if Australia, Malaysia and China would meet soon, he said there was no definite date as there had yet to be new evidence in the case. – Bernama, October 4, 2017.