Search called off for downed MH370 plane

The Malaysian government has called an end to the search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 and its 239 occupants.

British pilot Simon Hardy.

Hopes the Malaysian government might fund another hunt for ­Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 appear dashed after the country’s transport minister last night said the current search will end on Tuesday with no extension

The move comes as the British airline pilot who postulated co-­ordinates where he claims the captain of MH370 ditched the plane said an Australian official’s ­assertion that the location was searched, is false.

MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2014, on a scheduled flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board, with satellite tracking showing it ended in the southern Indian Ocean.

The British-owned, but Houston-based subsea survey company Ocean Infinity started searching for the Boeing 777 in January.

“We want to know the details of this (search), the necessity of this, and if we find it is not necessary, we will not renew,” Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said yesterday after chairing his first cabinet meeting since taking office on May 10.

“We are reviewing the contract and we need to terminate it if not useful,” he said.

Transport Minister Anthony Loke just days ago said his first ­priority was to find MH370. But hours after Dr Mahathir made his remarks he said: “This morning I raised this in cabinet and agreed to extend to May 29.”

Asked if that meant no more extensions, he said: “Yes.”

In an open letter to Dr Mahathir yesterday, the group representing the families of those lost, Voice 370, asked the new government to examine whether there had been any cover-up of the MH370 investigation.

Ocean Infinity’s contract with the government had always been on a “no cure, no fee” basis, and it was to get up to $US70 million only if it found the aircraft. Ocean Infinity did not respond to emails.

There had been hopes the ­Malaysian government might ­extend the contract with Ocean Infinity to look in an area farther southwest than the first Australian-led search, identified by three senior airline pilots and an engineer as where they ­believe the aircraft’s captain brought the aircraft down. In 2015 captain Simon Hardy drew world headlines with a claim he had done simulations and ­extended calculations that placed MH370’s resting place about 39 degrees south and 87 degrees east.

Captain Hardy had talks at the time with the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which led the first search for the plane.

The ATSB’s director of the failed search, Peter Foley, on Tuesday told a Senate estimates hearing: “Simon’s initial area where he was postulating the aircraft might have been controlled (to the end) … was actually searched. We went a long way to the east ... 42 miles.”

But Captain Hardy said Mr Foley had not sent the searchers far enough. “Mr Foley tried to ­accommodate my workings by going 42 nautical miles and not 100 nautical miles,” he said.

“When I visited the ATSB in May 2015 I was aware that the offices were five miles from Canberra airport. Had I tried to accommodate Mr Foley by going only half of that distance, I would not have found the ATSB. In the same way, Mr Foley has not found MH370.”

ATSB media spokesman Paul Sadler did not respond to emails.