MH370 search to end next week

The Malaysia Airlines jet vanished in 2014 with 239 people on board, en route to Beijing

The search for flight MH370 will end next week, Malaysia’s transport minister said yesterday, 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 plane was found in a 120,000 square kilometre 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 on the condition it would only be paid if the jet or its black boxes were found.

The firm, which deployed hitech underwater drones in its hunt, stood to make up to $70 million (Dh257 million) if successful.

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.