MH370 disappeared from the radar on March 8, 2014, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.
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“In the absence of credible new evidence, we have chose to suspend the search upon the completion of the 120,00 sq km search area”, he said.
“I must emphasise that this does not mean we are giving up on the search for MH370”, he added.
Investigators have not been able to pinpoint the cause of the plane’s disappearance because of the lack of evidence, with the aircraft’s body and black boxes yet to be found.
The search, led by Australia, has been using underwater drones and sonar equipment to scour a 120,000 sq km search zone in the southern Indian Ocean where the plane is presumed to have crashed.
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.
Jailani said the investigating team together with experts would continue to investigate objects found at several locations including the recent one on Kangaroo Island, south of Australia and Madagascar, Africa, until they are confirmed as belonging to the ill-fated aircraft.
Costing more than £100 million, the search is the most expensive in aviation history.
The search was originally scheduled to conclude in June, but has been hampered by bad weather.
Unless “credible new evidence” turns up by the time the current operations are completed, “the search would not end, but be suspended” until solid new information pointing to a crash site emerged, they said.
However, if no evidence surfaces that points crews in the right direction, the search could be suspended forever. “I also want to reassure families and friends that we’re all on the same chain”. The search will be suspended if nothing turns up in the current area, officials say. “Based on that, we searched the area”.
However, speculation has now emerged that someone may have been in charge until the last moments, piloting the plane in a controlled glide for a much longer distance than it would have covered if spiralling uncontrollably.
Flight simulator data documents handed over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation reportedly showed that Zaharie practiced a flight path similar to the route search officials believe MH370 took.
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“The best guess that we think is that it’s probably around the Broken Ridge region, which is slightly to the north of the area that they’re looking at”, Pattiaratchi said.
