Search for missing flight MH370 to end next Tuesday

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The search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, whose disappearance is one of the world's biggest aviation mysteries, will end on May 29, Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke said on Wednesday.

The search will continue until next week, after which there will be no extensions, Loke said at a press conference, as the US-seabed exploration firm Ocean Infinity is about to complete a search in the area without discovering any major findings.

A family member of victim of MH370 plane crash writes a on a message board during a memorial event MH370 Day of Remembrance at The Square of Publika on March 8, 2015 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. /VCG phot

The announcement came as the new government, led by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, announced a slew of measures to control government spending as the country is faced with high-level debt.

Mahathir told reporters earlier that the new government would review, and possibly terminate, the agreement reached between the previous government and Ocean Infinity. "If we find it not necessary, we will not renew," Mahathir said.

The ill-fated jet was carrying 239 people on-board, most of them Chinese, when it disappeared in March 2014 while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

(Top image file photo)

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency