MH370 Update: Search Plan 'Modified'; 75% Of The Area Searched Yet No Wreckage Found
The search of MH370 still continues and the search plan has been modified to continue the operations.
In the latest operational update released on May 20 by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), the leading agency of the underwater search, stated that the search plan for the Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 has been changed because of the weather.
"The search plan has been modified to enable continuous search operations during winter and to ensure that the entire 120,000 square kilometer area is searched as quickly and effectively as possible. The search into the expanded area has already commenced, with search efforts focused in the south to take advantage of the last of the usable weather in that area," it said.
The "highest probability" to locate the MH370 is within the 120,000 square kilometrer search area and "beyond that, it is not possible to refine the search area to one of greater likelihood," the statement added.
In addition, the Search Strategy Working Group continues to review evidence that could lead to further investigation of the search area.
The search team has searched more than 75 percent of the seafloor yet no wreckage of the aircraft has been found.
Meanwhile, in a different report from The Straits Times, one half of the couple who stole from the banks accounts of four of the passengers at MH370 was sentenced to four years in jail.
"Judge Norsharidah Awang sentenced mechanic Basheer Ahman Maula Sahul Hameed, 34, following his conviction last Wednesday," it said.
Basheer on April 28 has pleaded guilty to four charges of using ATM and debit card to withdraw a RM7,650 from the account of Tian Jun Wei, a Chinese national.
However, the deputy prosecutor Fadhli Mahmud has urged the court not to reduce the "severity of the punishment and added that guilty pleas are not mandatory.
"The accused actions brought further pain to the families, who were already grieving over the loss of their loved ones," said Fadhli.
