A ministerial tripartite meeting in Malaysia’s administrative capital Putrajaya has chose to suspend search operations for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 after a search of a now earmarked area is completed.
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China, Australia and Malaysia had previously agreed to comb a search area of 120,000 square kilometer, which has the highest possibility finding debris belonging to the plane.
Still, the announcement signals a likely end to the aviation mystery that began March 8, 2014, when Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared from radar as it traveled between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing.
Close to $135 million has been spent since on a massive underwater search, spanning 120,000 square kilometres in the southern Indian Ocean, since the plane disappeared in March 2014 with 239 people onboard en route from Malaysia to China.
The decision was particularly focused on delays to the search as a result of damaged equipment and recent poor weather, as well as discussion about the discovery of aircraft debris and what it meant in relation to search efforts and the investigation. It is thought to have crashed in the Indian Ocean. If it wasn’t found soon, they would halt the search, officials said.
An FBI forensic examination shows the pilot of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 conducted a flight simulation on his home computer that closely matched the suspected route of the missing Boeing 777 in the southern Indian Ocean, according to a Malaysian government document obtained by NY magazine.
After 10 months of intensive undersea search, Malaysia declared MH370 lost January 29 2015 in an accident, killing all on board. But after 850 square kilometers (330 square miles) of seabed is searched, authorities conclude that they must have been mistaken.
“We are confident we are searching in the right area”.
It’s possible missing flight MH370 will never be found.
“I must emphasise that this does not mean that we have given up on locating MH370”. The most widely accepted theory behind the plane’s disappearance, presented by the official investigators, is that there was no one at the controls at the time of the impact.
There is now less than 10,000sq km of the 120,000sq km search zone left to be examined.
A look at the progressive searches for Flight 370, which are the most challenging and expensive undertaken in aviation history.
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The first piece of debris believed to have come from MH370 was discovered last July on a beach on Reuinion island in the Indian Ocean.
