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Flight MH370 Search: Investigators Remain “Hopeful”

Flight MH370 Search: Investigators Remain “Hopeful”
Flight MH370 Search: Investigators Remain “Hopeful”

Malaysia and Australia say they remain “hopeful” that flight MH370 will eventually be found, two years on from its disappearance. The aircraft disappeared between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing on 8 March 2014 with 239 people on board.

Australian-led search teams are combing a 120,000 sq km area of the southern Indian Ocean. Only one confirmed piece of debris, a part of wing called a flaperon, has been found, on Reunion Island.

Malaysian investigators say key information is still being reviewed, BBC reported.

“At this time, the team is continuing to work towards finalizing its analyses, findings, conclusions and safety recommendations on eight relevant areas associated with the disappearance of flight MH370 based on relevant information,” lead investigator Kok Soo Choon said in a statement on state television on Tuesday.

The investigating team is led by Malaysia and includes experts from the US, China, Australia, France and Britain. It is estimated to have cost more than $130 million (£92 million). The countries have said it will end once the current search area has been completely covered, likely to be around June.

In a statement on Tuesday, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said he remained “hopeful that MH370 will be found”, but once the search zone is exhausted, the three governments would meet to determine the way forward.

“We remain committed to doing everything within our means to solving what is an agonizing mystery for the loved ones of those who were lost,” he said.

But Martin Dolan, the head of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which is coordinating the search, said the governments’ positions were unchanged and the search would end then, “unless new and significant information comes to light”.

Many relatives want the operation to continue until the plane is found.

Australian Transport Minister Darren Chester also hoped on the anniversary, saying finding the plane would “give answers to the world, in particular the families of missing loved ones, about what happened”.

Last year, authorities found a piece of wing on the shore of Reunion island in the Indian Ocean. It was later confirmed to be a flaperon from the missing plane.

A second suspected piece of debris was found last week in Mozambique.

It will be analyzed in Australia by the ATSB, along with representatives of the plane’s manufacturer Boeing and the Malaysian investigation team advising.

Although a long way from the suggested possible crash area, both finds are consistent with prevailing ocean currents that could carry debris across the Indian Ocean.

Financialtribune.com