British ships help in Australian-led search for MH370

Anyone who has ever boarded an aeroplane must have felt a sense of personal engagement as the sad story of Malaysian Airlines MH370 has unfolded. Our hearts go out to the families of the passengers from many nations, and particularly China which had over 150 citizens on board. In the last couple of weeks the search has switched to waters off Australia.

It has been impressive to see the way Australia has stepped up to lead the search effort, from Perth the West Australian capital. They have coordinated a huge operation involving planes and ships from eight countries, searching a remote part of the Indian Ocean, almost at the limits that can be reached by aircraft flying out of Pearce Airbase. And many others provided satellite imagery to aid the search. As PM Tony Abbott has said, this is an excellent example of the international community pulling together.

British experts from the UK Air Accident Investigations Branch (AAIB), the UK Meteorological Office and INMARSAT have been involved since the beginning of the search and played a key role in helping to identify the likely trajectory of the aircraft. The British ship HMS Echo and submarine HMS Tireless have been making an important contribution to the search.

Even though there were no British citizens on board the missing plane – there were six Australians – we have been keen to play our part. There have also been British exchange aircrew onboard some of the Royal Australian Air Force planes involved in the search. I’ll look forward to welcoming the British ships when they come through Perth in due course.

My team and I, particularly my Defence Adviser Commodore Richard Powell, have been busy liaising with Australian military and officials. The world’s media are all focused on the various “pings” from the sensors seeking to lock onto the signals from the aircraft’s black box. We’re all praying that they find it soon.