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| Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared in March 2014 with 239 people onboard while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing (AFP Photo/Manan VATSYAYANA) |
Kuala
Lumpur (AFP) - The search for flight MH370 will end next week, Malaysia's
transport minister said Wednesday, more than four years after the plane disappeared
and triggered one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries.
The
Malaysia Airlines jet vanished in March 2014 with 239 people -- mostly from
China -- on board, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
No sign of
the jet was found in a 120,000 square kilometre (46,000 square mile) sea search
zone and the Australian-led hunt, the largest in aviation history, was
suspended in January last year.
After
pressure from family members, the former Malaysian government struck a deal
with US exploration firm Ocean Infinity to restart the search in January on the
condition it would only be paid if the Boeing 777 or its black boxes were
found.
The firm
stood to make up to $70 million if successful but did not find any sign of the
jet despite scouring the seabed with some of the world's most hi-tech search
equipment.
Malaysia's
Transport Minister Anthony Loke, part of the new government that came to power
following May 9 elections, said the hunt was officially meant to finish in
April but had been extended, and would come an end next week.
"The
search will continue until May 29," he told reporters.
Prime
Minister Mahathir Mohamad had said earlier that the contract with Ocean
Infinity was being reviewed, as his administration seeks to cut costs after
accusing the allegedly corrupt former regime of leaving the public finances in
bad shape.
Grace
Nathan, a Malaysian lawyer whose mother Anne Daisy was on the plane, said the
news was not a surprise but said the government should leave the "no find,
no fee" offer on the table in case a company wants to take on the search
in future.
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Relatives
of passengers of MH370 urged the Malaysian government to undertake
a
"comprehensive review" of all matters related to the plane's
disappearance
(AFP Photo/Manan VATSYAYANA)
|
"We
can't tell (the government) what to do but for me and the families... finding
the plane is important for many reasons," she told AFP.
'Comprehensive review'
In a letter
to the new administration released before the end of the search was announced,
Voice370 -- a group representing families of those on the plane whose members
include Nathan -- urged the government to undertake a "comprehensive
review" of all matters related to the plane's disappearance.
It also
called for "an investigation into any possible falsification and/or
elimination of records related to MH370".
The new
hunt was in an area of about 25,000 square kilometres in the southern Indian
Ocean, north of the former search area.
The ship
conducting the hunt, Seabed Constructor, was a Norwegian research vessel
carrying 65 crew, including two members of the Malaysian navy as the
government's representatives.
It used
eight autonomous drones, equipped with sonars and cameras, that scoured the
waters for wreckage and can operate in depths up to 6,000 metres (20,000 feet).
Only three
confirmed fragments of MH370 have been found, all of them on western Indian
Ocean shores, including a two-metre wing part known as a flaperon.
The jet's
disappearance stands as one of the most enduring aviation mysteries of all time
and has spawned a host of theories, with some blaming a hijacking or even a
terror plot.
Mahathir
himself revived one of the many conspiracy theories in March when he suggested
the plane could have been taken over remotely to foil a hijacking.
Earlier
this week, Australian investigators defended their findings that the plane was
out of control when it plunged into the ocean, after a theory that a rogue
pilot deliberately ditched the jet was revived in a book by a Canadian air
crash investigator.
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