Malaysia to announce assets details for MH370's search

Malaysian Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein Friday said that the details of the assets that would be deployed for various stages of the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, would be announced soon.

Hishammuddin said the deployment of the assets would cover both the bathymetric survey and the search of the sea bed, which would include assets such as the Multi-Beam Echo Sounder and the Prosas Towed Side Scan Sonar to join the search efforts in the coming months, Xinhua reported.

Hishammuddin said a Malaysian delegation met with their Australian counterparts recently to discuss and coordinate the arrangements for Malaysia's participation in this phase of the search operation.

Australia announced Thursday a new area for the search of the missing aircraft.

According to Australian Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss, the new area, covering about 60,000 sq.km, would be towards the south of the area previously searched.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 vanished mysteriously about an hour after taking off for Beijing from Kuala Lumpur shortly after midnight March 8.

The Boeing 777-200ER was scheduled to land in Beijing the same morning. The 227 passengers on board included five Indians, 154 Chinese and 38 Malaysians.