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On Friday, Australian authorities said that they would increase the area of their underwater search for the missing flight MH370, as the deep-sea search for the missing place at the suspected crash site comes to a close, with no significant results to speak of.
The mini-submarine Bluefin-21 has so far scanned 95% of the initial search area, far off Western Australia in the Indian Ocean, without making any “contacts of interest”, the search co-ordination center said in statement. “If no contacts of interest are made, Bluefin-21 will continue to examine the areas adjacent to the current search zone”, it said. The unmanned submarine’s search area covers a six mile radius around the suspected crash site, where the signal detected is most consistent with those from the airplane’s black box, it added. “We are currently consulting very closely with our international partners on the best way to continue the search into the future”, it said.
Based on satellite information, the flight is believed to have veered off course and crashed at a remote location in the southern Indian Ocean. Many family members of passengers of the flight, especially those in China, who account for two-thirds of the flight’s passengers, have for weeks been accusing Malaysia of an incompetent and secretive response to the incident.
Several Chinese relatives were reportedly held by security forces after an overnight protest in front of the Malaysian embassy in Beijing. According to sources, over a hundred people waited outside the embassy. On Thursday, tensions had boiled over after a briefing in a hotel where the relatives were staying, after representatives for the airliner said that the Malaysian embassy official would not come to the briefing to answer their questions.
On Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said that China has urged Malaysia to take the families’ grievances seriously. He reiterated that China has been in close contact with Malaysian officials, and has made “all-out” efforts to find the missing plane and bring some closure to the passengers’ families.
