Insurers face US$450m bill for search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak will visit Perth to observe the search for flight MH370, the government said last night, as Standard & Poor's warned that insurers faced paying out up to US$450 million.

Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, who is also acting transport minister, announced Najib's trip as he said he himself would fly to Hawaii to see other defence ministers at an Association of Southeast Asian Nations meeting convened by US defence secretary Chuck Hagel.

"Our prime minister has decided to travel to Perth on Wednesday for a working visit to Pearce Airforce Base to see the operations first-hand and also to thank the personnel involved in the multinational search," Hishammuddin said.

Over the last 23 days, Malaysia has said it lacks the technical resources needed for such a search.

Hishammuddin said he would discuss with the US "the possibility of deploying more specific military assets, in the event that we need to embark on a more complex phase of the operation".

Malaysia also announced that the last words exchanged between air traffic controllers and Flight 370 were "Good night Malaysian three seven zero", and not "all right, good night" as reported previously. Authorities were trying to find out if the words were spoken by the pilot or co-pilot.