SYDNEY (TIP): China is set to join the underwater search for a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet missing for almost two years by providing a sonar-equipped vessel by the end of February, Australia’s deputy prime minister Warren Truss said on January 29.
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared with 239 people on board during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March 2014, sparking one of the greatest mysteries in aviation history.
The Chinese vessel Dong Hai Jiu 101 was offered to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in November and will be deployed to join search operations in the southern Indian Ocean, where the plane is believed to have gone down in March 2014.
At the time, China valued its contribution to the search at A$20 million ($14.2 million).
The Australian-led underwater search is one of the most expensive ever conducted. An initial hunt along a rugged 60,000-sq km (23,000 sq miles) patch of sea floor off the coast of Perth cost A$120 million but yielded no sign of the plane.
The presence of Dong Hai Jiu will take to four the number of vessels scouring a search area that has been expanded to 120,000 square km (46,330 square miles) of ocean floor.
The vessel is expected to leave Singapore for Australia on Jan. 31 and commence operations towards the end of February.
The sonar system onboard Dong Hai Jiu 101 will be operated by Phoenix International Holdings and Hydrospheric Solutions. Both companies have previous experience in the search for MH370.
Earlier this week, Australian authorities said they had lost a deep-water sonar detector that was being used in the search.
A piece of the plane washed up on the French island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean in July 2015 but no further trace has been found.
On Saturday, a piece of suspected plane wreckage was found off the east coast of southern Thailand but aviation experts and Thai officials said it was unlikely to belong to MH370.
(Reuters)
Mawlynnong
In the sphere of politico-legal and democratic governance, significant achievements have been made. From 54 political parties in the 1951 general election, India had moved up to 464 in the 2014 general election. It shows a deepening of the democratic process. There have been periods of darkness threatening India’s democratic institutions at certain moments in post independent India. These for an example include the imposition of emergency and curtailment of press freedom in the period 1975-77. But India’s institutions like the free press and an independent judiciary have ensured that India remains a society based on rule of law. India’s democratic institutions and framework have ensured stability even in periods of political chaos. Another achievement that barely gets mentioned is that India has been able to keep out the military from the democratic process. It also shows prudence on the part of military generals and defence personnel. Challenges now and for the future include ensuring greater transparency, accountability and independence in the broad framework of checks and balances on which India’s democratic framework rests. Also, resolving administrative issues and attitudinal issues like pendency in courts and apathy of the governing class remain a challenge threatening the rule of law and democratic governance.
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