PUTRAJAYA, March 9 – A final report have been prepared by the independent investigation team of missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH370 is a public document comprising recommendations and also the steps for use worldwide to prevent a recurrence.
The Malaysian ICAO Annex 13 Safety Investigation Team for MH370 investigator-in-chief Datuk Kok Soo Chon said the team would prepare the final report after the search for the missing Boeing 777-200ER aircraft was terminated and no new evidence surfaced.
He said the final report is a must (do), no matter how difficult it is to prepare it. He said this when met here yesterday. He also added that the issuance of the final report was required under the ICAO Annex 13. The investigation team had released an interim statement and a factual information on the MH370 incident at its first anniversary last year while this year, it issued an interim statement.
Flight MH370, with 239 people on board, disappeared from the radar while enroute to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur on March 8, 2014. The jetliner has yet to be found although massive search operations were conducted in the southern Indian Ocean, the place the aircraft was believed to have ended its flight path after diverting from its original route.
A flaperon was found in July last year on Reunion Island, off France and on Aug 6 last year, Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak confirmed it belonged to MH370. Earlier this month, another discovery of a part of an object believed to belong to a Boeing 777 aircraft was reported to be found in the Mozambique coast, while Monday, another aircraft part was found on Reunion Island, which was also linked to the MH370 aircraft.
The Malaysian ICAO Annex 13 Safety Investigation Team for MH370, headed by the investigator-in-chief, has been established to investigate the disapperance of the jetliner comprises 19 Malaysians and seven accredited representatives of seven safety authorities from seven countries.
They are Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), Civil Aviation Administration of China, France’s Bureau d’Enquetes et d’Analyses, Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee, Singapore’s Air Accident Investigation Bureau, United Kingdom’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch and NationalTransportation Safety Board of the United States.
Kok pointed out that as stated in the ICAO Annex 13, the objective of the investigation of an accident or incident shall be the prevention of future accidents or incidents and not the purpose to apportion blame or liability. He said this report will be in such a way as to emphasise on safety so that it will not be repeated. In the report, he said there will be many recommendations so that various stakeholders know what to do and will not repeat the mistake.
“The final report was not ‘a final report by Malaysia’ per se but also a final report by seven other countries involved in the investigation team. They are not only our ‘si fu’ (masters) because they are the experts. They also provide us with guidance and advice and finally, they are the ones who agree or disagree with us. We need consent and agreement from the seven accredited experts because of their experience, background in aviation,” he said.
Asked if the investigation team would be disbanded once the final report was published, Kok said it was up to the government to decide, adding the investigation could also be reopened if new credible evidence emerged. He said the ICAO, a specialised agency of the United Nations in charge of coordinating and regulating international air travel had never set a timeline for the completion of the final report.
“Investigating an accident is never an easy task. The process is difficult because you need to verify a lot of things.” In the meantime, Kok also said that the investigation team was committed to do its best and determine the truth behind the disappearance of Flight MH370.
“My thoughts and prayers are with the families. We are trying our best to find whatever truth we can find in our report so that everybody will know what happened on that fateful day. The world is looking at us…so we can find closure for the families and also enhance aviation safety,” he added.
He said the team members were very committed and the working relations with the experts were very encouraging and cordial in finding the truth to the most baffling aircraft disappearance in aviation history and industry. Kok said they look at all information received seriously and ‘in a responsible way’ as we are dealing with a very serious case where family members and next-of-kin want answers.
