This handout image taken on April 14, 2014 and received on April 15, 2014 from the US Navy shows operators aboard ADF Ocean Shield moving US Navy’s Bluefin-21 into position for deployment in the search of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
Kuala Lumpur:
The effort to find missing flight MH370 is at a "very critical juncture", Malaysia's transport minister said on Saturday as authorities mull whether to reassess a challenging search of the Indian Ocean seabed that has so far found nothing. (Four questions about missing Malaysia Airlines plane answered)
"The search for today and tomorrow is at a very critical juncture. So I appeal for everybody around the world to pray and pray hard that we find something to work on," Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said.
The jet is believed to have crashed in deep and remote waters far off Western Australia.
But with no results from the multi-national search operation for the Boeing 777, which vanished on March 8 carrying 239 people, Australia's Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Thursday set a one-week deadline to locate the plane by mini-submarine.
The Australian-led search effort is relying on a single US Navy submersible sonar scanning device to scour an uncharted seabed at depths of around 4,500 metres (15,000 feet) or more. (Mini-sub deployed to scour ocean depths in Malaysian flight MH370 hunt)
Technical hitches, including the fact that the torpedo-shaped Bluefin-21 is operating at the extent of its depth limit, made for a slow start to the search.
Launched from an Australian naval vessel, the device has so far made six deep-sea scanning runs but has detected nothing. (Still no success as deep-sea drone searches for MH370)
"We have pursued every possible lead presented to us at this stage, and with every passing day the search has become more difficult," Hishammuddin, who is heading up the Malaysian government's response to MH370, told reporters in Kuala Lumpur. (Drone diving to record level in Malaysian plane search)
As the search and rescue effort expected to be the costliest in aviation history wears on, authorities have indicated alternative methods may be needed, including possibly deeper-diving devices. (MH370 search to be costliest ever at $100 million: analysts)
Hishammuddin said adjustments "may include widening the scope of the search and utilising other assets that could be relevant in the search operation", but he stressed the search would not be abandoned.
"The search for today and tomorrow is at a very critical juncture. So I appeal for everybody around the world to pray and pray hard that we find something to work on," Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said.
The jet is believed to have crashed in deep and remote waters far off Western Australia.
But with no results from the multi-national search operation for the Boeing 777, which vanished on March 8 carrying 239 people, Australia's Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Thursday set a one-week deadline to locate the plane by mini-submarine.
The Australian-led search effort is relying on a single US Navy submersible sonar scanning device to scour an uncharted seabed at depths of around 4,500 metres (15,000 feet) or more. (Mini-sub deployed to scour ocean depths in Malaysian flight MH370 hunt)
Technical hitches, including the fact that the torpedo-shaped Bluefin-21 is operating at the extent of its depth limit, made for a slow start to the search.
Launched from an Australian naval vessel, the device has so far made six deep-sea scanning runs but has detected nothing. (Still no success as deep-sea drone searches for MH370)
"We have pursued every possible lead presented to us at this stage, and with every passing day the search has become more difficult," Hishammuddin, who is heading up the Malaysian government's response to MH370, told reporters in Kuala Lumpur. (Drone diving to record level in Malaysian plane search)
As the search and rescue effort expected to be the costliest in aviation history wears on, authorities have indicated alternative methods may be needed, including possibly deeper-diving devices. (MH370 search to be costliest ever at $100 million: analysts)
Hishammuddin said adjustments "may include widening the scope of the search and utilising other assets that could be relevant in the search operation", but he stressed the search would not be abandoned.
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