Flight MH370: Australian PM vows to solve plane 'riddle'

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott says authorities are “throwing everything we have” at the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

 

He was speaking as weather conditions in the southern Indian Ocean improved, allowing the search to resume.

 

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa) says 12 aircraft are taking part in Wednesday’s operations.

 

The plane vanished on 8 March as it flew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.

 

“We owe it to the families, we owe it to an anxious world to do everything we can to finally locate some wreckage and to do whatever we can to solve the riddle of this extraordinarily ill-fated flight,” Mr Abbott said.

 

He also said Australia was ready to assist the families of the missing passengers in any possible way.

 

“There’s a terrible trauma involved – there’s the uncertainty, there’s the anguish. It’s just an unspeakable time for these people and if they want to come to Australia we’ll make them welcome and we’ll do everything we can to assist,” he said.

Australia has been co-ordinating the multinational search that is now focused on a remote area of ocean some 1,500 miles (2,500km) to the south-west of the Australian city of Perth.

 

The Australian parliament in the capital, Canberra, observed a moment of silence on Wednesday for passengers of the missing flight, which included six Australians.

 

Some relatives of the passengers are refusing to accept their loved ones have died, saying no wreckage has been found.

 

There were angry scenes in Beijing after Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said analysis of satellite data showed the plane had almost certainly ended its journey in the southern Indian Ocean.

 

On Tuesday, dozens of Chinese relatives staged a protest outside the Malaysian embassy in Beijing to demand more information. There were 153 Chinese nationals on board the plane.