Malaysian PM to arrive in Australia for joint jet hunt

PERTH - Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak will arrive in Perth, West Australia on Wednesday to witness the ongoing search operation for the missing MH370 passenger jet.

Razab is scheduled to visit Pearce Air Base near Perth to thank all involved in the multinational effort to find remains of the Beijing-bound plane which disappeared on March 8 with 239 passengers and crew onboard, reports said here Tuesday.

The hunt was again marred with frustration Monday when four orange items of interest, the most promising lead in the search so far, were confirmed as fishing junk and nothing more significant has been sighted, said the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA).

A Perth-based Joint Agency Coordination Center has been established to oversee communication with international agencies involved in the effort.

Former Defense chief Angus Houston was appointed to head the 20- staff center, which will assume its prime coordination role when families of the passengers fly in in the coming weeks.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott toured Pearce Air Base on Monday to show determination in pressing ahead with the unprecedented task to locate the ill-fated jet.

Seven countries Australia, the United States, China, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and Malaysia have contributed ships and aircraft to the search off the coast of Perth.

With the black box battery waning after 30 days, Transport Minister Warren Truss has said the immediate search priority was to recover it.

Australian navy ship, the Ocean Shield, equipped with a black box detector and an unmanned underwater drone, left Stirling naval base at 6 pm Monday to try to locate MH370's black boxes and the wreckage.