美国一家海底勘探公司已提出要搜寻马航失联客机MH370,试图解开世界上最大的航空谜团之一。2014年,这架波音777客机在从马来西亚首都吉隆坡飞往北京的途中失踪,机上载有239人。澳大利亚、马来西亚和中国在今年1月中止了搜寻工作,该项搜寻工作花费了2亿澳元,历时两年。
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.
美国一家海底勘探公司和一名马来西亚政府官员上周四表示,该公司提出要搜寻马航失联客机MH370,让失联乘客家属再次燃起了希望。搜寻工作此前在年初终止。
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.
这架波音777客机于2014年3月失踪,机上载有239人。从南印度洋到澳大利亚西海岸,在长期的深海搜寻后,飞机残骸依旧无迹可寻。直至今年一月,对MH370的搜寻才正式终止。
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.
这家名为“海洋无限”的海底勘探公司称其拥有世界上最大最先进的商用水下航行器舰队用于实施搜索工作。该公司曾提议继续搜寻MH370。
"I can confirm that we have made an offer," a spokesman said in an emailed statement to AFP, without giving further details.
该公司发言人在对法新社的声明邮件中说:“我可以证实我们已提出该提议”,但未作进一步细谈。
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.
马来西亚交通部副部长阿齐兹•卡普拉维也证实当局已收到了这一提议,并且该公司只要求在失联客机被发现时获得报酬。
He said the firm had made a "good offer", and added negotiations were ongoing with the country's Department of Civil Aviation.
他说,该公司提出了“很好的建议”,并补充说与马来西亚民航局的谈判还在进行。
"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."
他告诉法新社:“这家公司只在飞机残骸被发现时才收费,我们要进一步讨论细节,我们最想看到的是飞机残骸和黑匣子。”
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.
他还补充道,协议签订前,还需得到中澳双方的同意。客机上的乘客多数来自中国,中澳两国共同参与了搜索工作。
Grace Nathan, a Malaysian lawyer whose mother Anne Daisy was on the plane, urged authorities to accept the offer.
马来西亚律师格蕾丝•内森主张当局接受该提议。她母亲安妮•黛西是失联客机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."
她说:“没理由继续等下去,我们又不会损失什么。这家公司有能力实施搜寻工作,这个提议简直再完美不过。”
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,已有三块MH370客机残骸碎片已经在西印度洋海岸被发现,其中有一块两米长,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.
澳大利亚国家级科研机构联邦科学与工业研究组织于今年四月表示,MH370“极有可能”沉在先前搜寻范围的北部。通过对卫星脉冲信号的分析和飞机载油量的估算,先前的搜寻范围确定为12万平方公里。
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.
但马来西亚交通部部长先前表示,除非有新的迹象表明MH370失事的具体位置,不然水下搜寻工作不会恢复。
Ocean Infinity has a fleet of six underwater vehicles which can collect seabed data at a depth of 6,000 metres.
“海洋无限”公司拥有一支由六部水下航行器组成的舰队,可以用于收集水下6000米的海底数据。
英文来源:法新社
翻译:胡紫画(中国日报网爱新闻iNews译者)