3-nation hunt for MH370 is facing suspension

PUTRAJAYA: Hope of finding flight MH370’s final resting place is “fading” and the massive three-nation search for the doomed jet will be suspended if nothing turns up in the suspected crash zone, Malaysia, Australia and China said on Friday.

With the designated search area due to be fully scanned within weeks, transport ministers from the three countries held talks to discuss the future of the unprecedented deep-sea sonar hunt for the Malaysia Airlines passenger plane.

“Ministers acknowledged that despite the best efforts of all involved, the likelihood of finding the aircraft is fading,” Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said after the talks in the country’s administrative capital Putrajaya.

He was joined by Australia’s Darren Chester and China’s Yang Chuantang.

Unless “credible new evidence” is found by the current operation, “the search would not end, but be suspended” until solid new information pointing to a crash site emerges, Liow said.