Flight MH370: Malaysia Gives up Search

Malaysia’s Transport Minister, Liow Tiong Lai, on Friday said that the search for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 is to end within two weeks.
Lai said that despite the passengers’ relatives demand for an extension, the search is in its final stages but said he still hoped for a breakthrough over the plane’s location.

“We are on the final lap within these two weeks. We hope we can find the plane and we pray hard that the search will bear fruit on how to locate MH370,’’ he said.

MH370, which was bound for Beijing from Kuala Lumpur International Airport, disappeared on March 8, 2014 with 239 people on board. Experts believe the plane went massively off course. The Australian Transport Security Bureau is leading the investigation, which has been centered on 120,000 square kilometers of the Indian Ocean.

Liow said that a tripartite meeting with the Australian and Chinese governments would be held once the search is completed and a report produced. “There are a lot of assumptions; we cannot base anything on assumptions. “We need credible truth to look for the plane, so we are waiting for the final report,’’ Lai said.

The last search vessel set off to make a final sweep across the southern Indian Ocean last month. The families of the passengers who vanished have been adamant that the search should continue, especially after some experts said investigators may be looking in the wrong place.