A woman leaves a message of support and hope for the passengers of the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 in central Kuala Lumpur March 16, 2014. REUTERS
A US exploration company has offered to take on the search for flight MH370 which was suspended earlier this year, the firm and a Malaysian minister said Thursday, offering new hope to families of the missing.
美國一家海底勘探公司和一名馬來西亞政府官員上周四表示,該公司提出要搜尋馬航失聯(lián)客機MH370,讓失聯(lián)乘客家屬再次燃起了希望。搜尋工作此前在年初終止。
No trace of the Boeing 777, which disappeared in March 2014 with 239 people on board, was found during a lengthy deep sea hunt in the southern Indian Ocean off western Australia, with the search called off in January.
這架波音777客機于2014年3月失蹤,機上載有239人。從南印度洋到澳大利亞西海岸,在長期的深海搜尋后,飛機殘骸依舊無跡可尋。直至今年一月,對MH370的搜尋才正式終止。
Ocean Infinity, a seabed exploration firm which says it has the world's largest and most advanced commercial fleet of underwater vehicles for conducting searches, said it had proposed continuing the hunt.
這家名為“海洋無限”的海底勘探公司稱其擁有世界上最大最先進的商用水下航行器艦隊用于實施搜索工作。該公司曾提議繼續(xù)搜尋MH370。
"I can confirm that we have made an offer," a spokesman said in an emailed statement to AFP, without giving further details.
該公司發(fā)言人在對法新社的聲明郵件中說:“我可以證實我們已提出該提議”,但未作進一步細談。
Malaysia's Deputy Transport Minister Aziz Kaprawi confirmed a company had made an approach and was only asking for payment in the event they find the plane.
馬來西亞交通部副部長阿齊茲•卡普拉維也證實當局已收到了這一提議,并且該公司只要求在失聯(lián)客機被發(fā)現(xiàn)時獲得報酬。
He said the firm had made a "good offer", and added negotiations were ongoing with the country's Department of Civil Aviation.
他說,該公司提出了“很好的建議”,并補充說與馬來西亞民航局的談判還在進行。
"The company is demanding payment in the event the wreckage is found," he told AFP. "We have to work out the details, what we want most is the wreckage and the black box."
他告訴法新社:“這家公司只在飛機殘骸被發(fā)現(xiàn)時才收費,我們要進一步討論細節(jié),我們最想看到的是飛機殘骸和黑匣子。”
He added that the agreement of Australia and China would be needed for a deal to be reached. China, where most of the passengers came from, and Australia were both involved in the search.
他還補充道,協(xié)議簽訂前,還需得到中澳雙方的同意??蜋C上的乘客多數(shù)來自中國,中澳兩國共同參與了搜索工作。
Grace Nathan, a Malaysian lawyer whose mother Anne Daisy was on the plane, urged authorities to accept the offer.
馬來西亞律師格蕾絲•內(nèi)森主張當局接受該提議。她母親安妮•黛西是失聯(lián)客機MH370的乘客之一。
"There is no point waiting any longer, we really do not lose anything," she said. "It seems to be a perfect offer from a company that is equipped to undertake this search."
她說:“沒理由繼續(xù)等下去,我們又不會損失什么。這家公司有能力實施搜尋工作,這個提議簡直再完美不過。”
So far, three fragments of MH370 have been found on western Indian Ocean shores, including a two-metre wing part known as a flaperon.
截至目前,已有三塊MH370客機殘骸碎片已經(jīng)在西印度洋海岸被發(fā)現(xiàn),其中有一塊兩米長,是襟副翼的一部分。
Australia's national science body CSIRO said in April that MH370 was "most likely" lying north of the former search zone -- a 120,000 square kilometre area largely defined through satellite "pings" and the flight's estimated fuel load.
澳大利亞國家級科研機構(gòu)聯(lián)邦科學與工業(yè)研究組織于今年四月表示,MH370“極有可能”沉在先前搜尋范圍的北部。通過對衛(wèi)星脈沖信號的分析和飛機載油量的估算,先前的搜尋范圍確定為12萬平方公里。
But the country's transport minister previously said the underwater probe would not resume unless new evidence about the specific location of the aircraft emerge.
但馬來西亞交通部部長先前表示,除非有新的跡象表明MH370失事的具體位置,不然水下搜尋工作不會恢復。
Ocean Infinity has a fleet of six underwater vehicles which can collect seabed data at a depth of 6,000 metres.
“海洋無限”公司擁有一支由六部水下航行器組成的艦隊,可以用于收集水下6000米的海底數(shù)據(jù)。