MH370: ‘Last scheduled search’ for doomed flight ends

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The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which vanished in March 2014, ended formally on Tuesday.

Australian Transport Minister Michael McCormack said the search had been the largest in aviation history and tested the limits of technology and the capacity of experts and people at sea.

“Our thoughts are with the families and loved ones of the 239 people on board MH370,” McCormack’s office said in a statement. “We will always remain hopeful that one day the aircraft will be located.”

The last search took place of the seabed in the remote Indian Ocean where the plane was believed to have been lost.

Malaysia said last week the search by Texas-based company Ocean Infinity would end on Tuesday after two extensions of the original 90-day time limit.

The government had signed a “no cure, no fee” deal with Ocean Infinity in January to resume the hunt for the plane, a year after the official search in the southern Indian Ocean by Australia, Malaysia and China was called off. No other search is scheduled.

The three nations had agreed in 2016 that an official search would only resume if the three countries had credible evidence that identified a specific location for the wreckage.

Well-wishes are written on a wall of hope during a remembrance event for the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. /AP Photo

Malaysia said last week an Ocean Infinity ship Seabed Contractor operating underwater sonar drones had searched more than 96,000 square kilometers (37,000 square miles) of water. The search area deemed by experts to be the most likely crash site was only 25,000 square kilometers (9,650 square miles), roughly the size of Vermont.

Ocean Infinity did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The Boeing 777 disappeared on March 8, 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing. The original search focused on the South China Sea before analysis revealed the plane had made an unexpected turn west and then south.

Australia coordinated an official search on Malaysia’s behalf that scoured 120,000 square kilometers (46,000 square miles) and cost 200 million Australian dollars (150 million dollars) before it ended last year.

Source(s): AP