Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Wednesday he would reconsider resuming a search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 if new information emerged, while his transport minister announced that a final report on the joint international hunt would be publicized in July.
Ocean Infinity, a U.S. seabed exploration company, on Tuesday ended its search for the airliner after more than three months of using the latest underwater imaging technology to sweep an area of the southern Indian Ocean. The company had signed a “no cure, no fee” contract with a 90-day timeframe in January, a year after Australia, China and Malaysia officially called off a joint search.
“If we find any new information, we may resume the search. But for now, we have to end it,” Mahathir, 92, told reporters after his second cabinet meeting since leading the opposition bloc to a surprise election triumph this month.
Flight MH370 vanished on March 8, 2014 while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 12 crew and 227 passengers, most of them from China. The disappearance of the Boeing 777 has been as dubbed one of the world’s greatest aviation mysteries.
“The coverage area is vast and we have yet to find any evidence,” Mahathir said.
Mahathir expressed regret over his government’s decision, but said “we cannot keep searching for something we cannot find.”
Transport Minister Anthony Loke told a news conference later on Wednesday that the joint international investigation was expected to release its report in July.
“There are many people interested in studying the report, including the never before-released data,” Loke said. “If any experts can provide evidence which can help us track the aircraft, we will revisit the location.”
Full story: BenarNews
Hadi Azmi
Kuala Lumpur
Copyright ©2018, BenarNews. Used with the permission of BenarNews.
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