The technical committee on the search for MH370 will look into a report that an exploration firm found materials consistent with a Boeing 777 in the Bay of Bengal, Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said.
“I will not make any comments until verification has been made as there are many leads out there, from the oil slicks, to the satellite images over the South China Sea, which proved to be untrue.
“I am meeting the technical committee at 12pm and if there is room to say we will proceed with the lead, we will,” he told reporters after meeting Japanese defence minister Itsunori Onodera.
Yesterday, 7News Australia reported that Australian exploration firm GeoResonance as saying it found material consistent with the plane in the Bay of Bengal, some 5000km from the search area.
He later tweeted that he has heard from the experts but nothing is conclusive as yet.
"Need to hear more experts tomorrow. Australia and China are doing the same," he said on Twitter.
The firm's checks of its own records show that items were not there prior to the plane's disappearance on March 8.
Asked this morning if Malaysia was informed of GeoResonance’s find prior to this, he said: “We receive every lead that comes out. I personally monitor everything out on social media.
“But if I monitor...every speculation on social media for example, I will not be able to sleep for the last 50 days.
“So basically, rest assured that the structures are in place, rest assured that we have nothing to hide, rest assured that all the experts are on board and rest assured that the countries that have been supporting us all this time, are still there to support us to continue the search.”
Japan not pulling out
Among the experts on board is Jean Paul Toudec, who was special advisor to France during the investigation into the Air France Flight 447, which took two years to find its wreckage.
“I've invited him to stay in Malaysia to be my personal advisor,” Hishammuddin said.
He also clarified that Japan was pulling out of the search, adding that Japan had today actually pledged support in the next phase.
“I have done some research and many of Japanese assets (relevant to the search) are in the hands of Japanese research institutes and they (the Japanese government) will look at how the institutes can assist so we can expand our joint assets. Their commitment is still solid.” he said.
This follows reports that Japan is pulling out of the search, after Australia called off the air search owing to a lower likelihood of finding debris on the ocean surface.
Hishammuddin also said that he will discuss how Malaysia will split the costs of the underwater search with Australia, as Australia will need to engage private contractors.
He, however, declined to give an estimate of the costs, saying that he will need expert opinion over what assets will be deployed first.
Australia has estimated the operation to cost AU$60 million (RM181.12 million) and it will ideally take eight months to search the seabed for the area the which spans 700 kilometres by 80 kilometres.
It also said that it will seek financial contributions from relevant countries.
MH370 disappeared off radar screens on 53 days ago but nothing as been found in the search, which is focused on the southern Indian Ocean, under 2000 kilometres from Perth.
