中馬澳宣告中止搜尋MH370
The underwater search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has ended in failure, leaving one of the world’s greatest aviation mysteries unsolved almost three years after the aircraft disappeared.
對失蹤的馬來西亞航空(Malaysia Airlines) MH370班機的水下搜索以失敗告終。在該班機失蹤將近三年後，這個全球最大的航空謎團之一仍未被解開。In a joint statement on Tuesday, China, Malaysia and Australia said they were suspending the operation and the last vessel had left the 120,000 sq km underwater search area without being able to locate the plane.
在週二發表的一份聯合公報中，中國、馬來西亞和澳大利亞表示它們正中止搜尋行動，最後一艘搜索船已離開面積爲12萬平方公里的水下搜索海區，沒有找到該班機的下落。“Despite every effort using the best science available, cutting-edge technology, as well as modelling and advice from highly skilled professionals who are the best in their field?.?.?.?the search has not been able to locate the aircraft,” said the Joint Agency Co-ordination Centre, which led the search. “Accordingly, the underwater search for MH370 has been suspended.”
“儘管搜索已竭盡所能，採用了最好的科技，先進的技術和模擬，以及相關領域中出類拔萃專業人士提出的建議，遺憾的是，搜索未能找到飛機。”領導搜尋工作的聯合機構協調中心(Joint Agency Co-ordination Centre)表示，“據此，MH370的水下搜索暫告中止。”
MH370 went missing en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8 2014 with 239 passengers and crew on board, prompting one of the longest and most complex search operations in history. The underwater search has concentrated on a remote part of the Indian Ocean off Western Australia — where investigators believe the aircraft ditched in the ocean after running out of fuel.
MH370班機2014年3月8日由吉隆坡飛往北京途中失蹤，機上有239名乘客和機組人員。它的失蹤引發了史上持續時間最長、複雜程度最高的搜尋行動。水下搜索工作聚焦於西澳大利亞州外的印度洋偏遠海域——調查人員認爲，該班機在耗盡燃油後墜入了這一帶的大洋中。Experts have been left baffled as to why the aircraft went “dark” — someone on board is thought to have deliberately disabled the transponder, a device that identifies an aircraft on radar screens — before the jet veered off-course.
專家們一直沒弄明白該班機爲何“失聯”，據信機上有人故意關閉了應答機（一種在雷達屏幕上確認飛機身份的設備）。該班機失聯後改變了航向。Radar tracking showed the aircraft changed course to the west, leaving its original route heading north-east from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Later analysis of satellite signals suggested the aircraft had then turned south and headed out over the Indian Ocean
雷達跟蹤信息顯示，MH370改變航向向西飛行，離開了由吉隆坡飛往北京的、指向東北方的原定航線。後來對衛星信號的分析顯示，該班機之後又轉而向南，一頭飛向印度洋上空。“Today’s announcement is significant for our three countries, but more importantly for the family and friends of those on board,” said the joint statement. “We again take this opportunity to honour the memory of those who have lost their lives and acknowledge the enormous loss felt by their loved ones.”
“今天的公報對我們三個國家很重要，但對於搭乘這趟航班旅客的親友們尤爲如此。”聯合公報稱，“我們利用這個機會再次對失事旅客表示懷念，並對由此給親人帶來的巨大損失深表同情。”However, the decision to wrap up the A$180m search is likely to prove controversial following a report last month by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which recommended searching a new 25,000 sq km area north of the search zone.
然而，決定中止耗資1.8億澳元的搜尋行動很可能會引起爭議，因爲澳大利亞交通安全局(Australian Transport Safety Bureau)上月曾發佈報告建議，對現搜尋區域以北一塊麪積2.5萬平方公里的新區域進行搜尋。A review of all available data by the ATSB identified the new area as the “one with the highest probability of containing the wreckage of the aircraft”.
澳交通安全局一項對所有可用數據的評估認定，該新區域爲“最有可能包含該班機殘骸的區域之一”。But government ministers from Canberra and Kuala Lumpur dismissed the report’s recommendation to extend the search as it did not provide enough specific information on the aircraft’s final resting place.
但澳大利亞和馬來西亞政府沒有采納這份報告提出的擴大搜尋範圍的建議，理由是報告未就該班機的最終所在地給出足夠多的具體信息。Voice 370, a support group for relatives of those on board MH370, criticised the decision to end the search.
MH370機上人員親屬的援助團體Voice 370批評了結束搜尋的決定。“In our view, extending the search to the new area is an inescapable duty owed to the flying public in the interests of aviation safety,” it said in a statement. “Commercial planes cannot just be allowed to disappear without trace.
“在我們看來，從航空安全出發，將搜尋範圍擴大到新區域是對乘飛機出行的公衆負有的、不可推諉的責任，”該團體在聲明中表示，“不能任由商用飛機消失得無影無蹤。”Several pieces of debris from MH370 have washed up on Indian Ocean beaches in Mauritius, the French island of Réunion and an island off the coast of Tanzania.
MH370的一些碎片被沖刷到毛里求斯、法屬留尼汪島(La Réunion)和坦桑尼亞沿海一座小島的海灘上。
