Recovery operations in the southern Indian Ocean will be suspended after ships finish scouring the 120,000 square-kilometer (46,330 square miles) zone, ministers from Malaysia, China and Australia said in a statement Friday after meeting outside Kuala Lumpur.
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The search for missing flight MH370 will be suspended if the plane is not found by December, officials from Australia, Malaysia and China have announced.
In a joint statement from the Malaysian, Australian and Chinese ministers of transportation, the search will be suspended when crews finish the final 10,000 sq km remaining in the current search area.
The $135-million search, the most expensive in aviation history, has focused on the Indian Ocean west of Australia, as it’s believed the plane turned west and then south before vanishing into the ocean.
The disappearance of MH370 with 239 people aboard on 8 March 2014 is widely considered aviation’s greatest mystery.
“Suspend the search, to me, means end the search”, she said.
“The debris’ drifting modelling pattern showed that it was from the right search area”.
Malaysian Transport Minister, Liow Lai, confirmed the decision to suspend the search.
Reuters reports the plane may have glided down into the ocean, as opposed to diving into the ocean, changing where the search zone should be.
“While acknowledging the significance of the debris, ministers noted that to date, none of it had provided information that positively identified the precise location of the aircraft”, the ministers said.
Ms Grace Nathan, daughter of missing passenger Anne Daisy, said: “We need to know what new information they need in order to continue the search”.
Australian Transport Minister Darren Chester said experts will continue to analyze data and inspect debris but added, “Future searches must have a high level of success to justify raising hopes of loved ones”.
After a hunt that has surpassed 2 years, officials tried to balance solidarity with families with the reality check of a mostly fruitless search.
The story cites as its source a confidential document from the Malaysian police investigation.
Liow also dismissed a news report suggesting that the search team might had all this while looking in the wrong area.
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Several pieces of debris that apparently drifted thousands of kilometres toward the African coast have been identified as definitely or probably from the Boeing 777 but have shed no light on where exactly the plane went down or why.
