Search renews hope as families mark disappearance of MH370

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — A Malaysian official said Saturday that the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 by a U.S. company will likely end in mid-June, as families of passengers marked the fourth anniversary of the plane’s disappearance with renewed hope that the world’s biggest aviation mystery will be solved.

Malaysia inked a deal with Texas-based Ocean Infinity in January to resume the hunt for the plane, a year after the official search in the southern Indian Ocean was called off.

Ocean Infinity started the search Jan. 22 and has 90 search days to look for the plane. Malaysia’s civil aviation chief, Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, said the 90-day term will spread over a few months because the search vessel has to refuel in Australia and bad weather could be a factor.

“The whole world, including the next of kin, have (new) hope to find the plane for closure,” Azharuddin told reporters at a remembrance event at a shopping mall near Kuala Lumpur. “For the aviation world, we want to know what exactly happened to the plane.”

Officials said there is an 85 percent chance of finding the debris in a new 9,650-square-mile area — roughly the size of Vermont. The plane vanished March 8, 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.

Family members lit candles on a stage Saturday and observed a moment of silence during the threehour event.

Jiang Hui of China, whose mother was on board the plane, said that “without a search, there will be no truth,” Jiang said.

FAZRY ISMAIL/EPA A drawing by Iman, the 9-year-old daughter of MH370 crew member Mohd Hazrin Hasnan, is on display at a remembrance ceremony Saturday to mark the fourth anniversary.