The relatives, who have formed a group called Voice370, have implored searchers not to give up, citing a comment by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak days after the plane vanished: “Until we find the plane, many families can not start to grieve…” According to The New York Times, only a small area of approximately 10,000 square kilometers is left to be searched, which is, discouragingly, only around 8 percent in total. After EgyptAir 990 crashed near Martha’s Vineyard in 1999 Egyptian officials rejected the U.S. National Transport Safety Board finding that the pilot had deliberately steered the plane into the sea. If it wasn’t found soon, they would halt the search, officials said.
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After two and a half years and more than 110,000 square kilometers of scouring the floor of the southern Indian Ocean, the hunt Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 will soon come to a close; at least for now.
A statement from the three nations, released after a meeting in Malaysia, said “the likelihood of finding the aircraft is fading”. In a mail, sent around 12 pm on Friday, they informed the families about the meeting held at Putrajaya, regarding the search, which comprised ministers from Australia, Malaysia and China. He did not say what he meant by credible evidence, but added that the data found so far will be made available online to the public in due time. “It’s a long wait, so go back to the drawing board”, she said. Nor had he recently taken out any life insurance policy, so why Zaharie Ahmad Shah would choose to kill himself along with 238 others in freaky and complicated fashion remains a complete mystery – if in fact the pilot is the man behind the plane’s disappearance.
With rough winter seas delaying the last leg of the search, Mr Liow said completion was expected between October and December.
Drift modeling was not used to define the search area because no parts of Flight 370 had been found before a wing flap washed up on La Reunion island a year ago.
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If the theory that someone glided the plane down onto the surface of the ocean is true, it could more than double the size of the search area. The plane dropped off of air traffic control radar about an hour after take-off and Malaysian military radar was able to continue to track the plane as it deviated away from its planned flight path, banking west over the ocean. “In the future, should key information leading to the location of the aircraft emerges, it will be assessed to determine our next steps”, said Yang.
