MH370 search to end after current search zone exhausted

THE search for missing flight MH370 will be called off once the current search zone is exhausted, Australia, Malaysia and China have confirmed.

THE search for missing flight MH370 will be called off once the current search zone is exhausted, Malaysian Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong La has confirmed.

At a joint press conference in Kuala Lumpur today, authorities from Australia, Malaysia and China said search for the missing plane would be suspended once the 120,000 square kilometre search zone has been exhausted.

The search of the area, believed to be the most likely place for the plane to have crashed, was originally due to been finished in June.

But bad weather, illness and lost equipment had delayed the search.

Reading a joint statement from the three countries today, Malaysian Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong La said to date 110,000 square kilometres had been searched.

He said so far four pieces and a flaperon had been tested are were considered almost certainly to be from MH370, with a further eight pieces to be tested.

Relatives of passengers missing on Malaysia Airlines MH370 at a press conference after meeting with the Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) and Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) in Kuala Lumpur. Picture: AFP

The Minister said the families of the victims remained the priority, saying he understood today would be a difficult day for them.

Australia’s Transport Minister Darren Chester said it was a significant day for the families and friends of those on board, acknowledging their “enormous loss”.

Mr Chester said the three countries “remained hopeful” the plane would be found before the search was wrapped up.

He said it was a difficult decision to suspend the search.

Regarding recent claims authorities might be searching in the wrong area, Mr Chester said “everyone was entitled to their opinion”.

But he said they were using the most reliable information they had.