PERTH (April 17): The Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) frigate, KD Lekiu, which had joined search operations for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean since April 03, made a 48-hour stop at the Fleet Base West, HMAS Stirling, Garden Island, here today.

The frigate arrived at the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) base at 10.15am, to resupply its logistic needs, including food supply, fuel and spare parts.

RMN Fleet Commander, Vice-Admiral Datuk Abdul Hadi A. Rashid, who welcomed the vessel's arrival, said the frigate would then continue its operation in the southern Indian Ocean, and would be joined by the seventh RMN auxiliary ship Bunga Mas 6 (BM6), which was expected to arrive in Perth on April 25.

Abdul Hadi, who was met by the Malaysian media at the navy base, had also expressed appreciation to the RAN, which gave full cooperation to the RMN, during the entire search operation.

"The smooth arrival of the KD Lekiu is the result of good cooperation, involving Malaysia and Australia," he noted.

During the welcoming ceremony, Abdul Hadi had also concluded a Donning-of-the-Ranks ceremony, which was organised on the vessel, right after it
docked, for six of the frigate's crew on various ranks.

Also present was Joint Task Force 658 Commander, Commodore Peter Leavy from the RAN.

Abdul Hadi pointed out that RMN's communication with its Australian counterpart, was made easier due to the existing Malaysia-Australia Joint Defence Programme and the Five Power Defence Arrangement (FPDA), which the RMN was involved in.

He also stressed that RMN did not face any problems in terms of coordination, as it had before this, joined several exercise sessions with the RAN and countries under the FPDA.

On the other hand, Leavy, when commenting on the same matter, told reporters that the coordination of all assets under the eight countries involved in the operation, had been really good.

"I was really impressed. It does show the benefit of working together, particularly the navy working with each other in the exercises and staff exchanges, before this.

"We do understand each other and we have been cooperating with each other, so it was much easier," he said.

Leavy also pointed out that RAN had very good relationship with the Malaysian Navy and those from other nations.

On their readiness to face longer operations, he said that RAN was ready to hand out whatever support needed, by those governments involved in the search operation.

The KD Lekiu frigate with 162 crew, had joined the search operation for the missing flight since the beginning on March 09, at the South China Sea, before it was sent to Perth, where it arrived on March 31. Three days later, it was involved in the search operation in the southern Indian Ocean.

Other than KD Lekiu, there were five other RMN vessels deployed to the southern Indian Ocean. However, they were returned to their respective bases, due to technical and logistic reasons, following the shift of the search area further out to sea.

They included frigate KD Kasturi and Kedah-class Patrol Vessel KD Selangor, KD Kelantan, KD Pahang and KD Terengganu.

Flight MH370, carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew, left the KL International Airport at 12.41am on March 08, and disappeared from radar screens about an hour later, while over the South China Sea.

It was to have arrived in Beijing at 6.30am, on the same day. A multinational search was mounted for the aircraft, first in the South China Sea, and then, after it was learned that the plane had veered off course, along two corridors — the northern corridor, stretching from the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to northern Thailand; and the southern corridor, from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean.

Following an unprecedented type of analysis of satellite data, United Kingdom satellite telecommunications company Inmarsat and the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), concluded that Flight MH370 flew along the southern corridor, and that its last position was in the middle of the Indian Ocean, west of Perth.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak then announced on March 24 — 17 days after the disappearance of the aircraft — that Flight MH370 "ended in the southern Indian ocean".