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Agence France-Presse

The latest search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has been suspended, Kuala Lumpur’s transport minister said, more than a decade after the plane went missing.
“They have stopped the operation for the time being, they will resume the search at the end of this year,” Transport Minister Anthony Loke said in a voice recording sent to Agence France-Presse on Thursday by his aide.
The Boeing 777 carrying 239 people disappeared from radar screens on March 8, 2014, while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
Despite the largest search in aviation history, the plane has not been found.
Loke’s comments come just one month after authorities said the search had resumed, following earlier failed attempts that covered vast swathes of the Indian Ocean.
An initial Australia-led search covered 120,000 square kilometres (46,300 square miles) in the Indian Ocean over three years, but found hardly any trace of the plane other than a few pieces of debris.
Maritime exploration firm Ocean Infinity, based in Britain and the United States, led an unsuccessful hunt in 2018, before agreeing to launch a new search this year.
“Right now, it’s not the season,” Loke said in the recording, which was made during an event at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Wednesday.
“Whether or not it will be found will be subject to the search, nobody can anticipate,” Loke said, referring to the wreckage of the plane.
The search was put on hold “due to seasonal weather changes and unavoidable prior commercial commitments”, a separate statement posted on the “MH370 Families” Facebook group said.
Loke said in December that a new 15,000 square kilometre area of the southern Indian Ocean would be scoured by Ocean Infinity.


The most recent mission was conducted on the same “no find, no fee” principle as Ocean Infinity’s previous search, with the government only paying out if the firm finds the aircraft.
The plane’s disappearance has long been the subject of theories – ranging from the credible to outlandish – including that veteran pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah had gone rogue.
A final report into the tragedy released in 2018 pointed to failings by air traffic control and said the course of the plane was changed manually.
Two-thirds of the passengers were Chinese, while the others were from Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, and elsewhere.
Relatives of passengers lost on the flight have continued to demand answers from Malaysian authorities.
Family members of Chinese passengers gathered in Beijing outside government offices and the Malaysian embassy last month on the 11th anniversary of the flight’s disappearance.
Attendees of the gathering shouted, “Give us back our loved ones!”
Some held placards asking, “When will the 11 years of waiting and torment end?”


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Malaysia

Search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 paused amid ‘weather changes’

A mural representing the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 at an alley near Kuala Lumpur. Photo: AFP

Malaysia agrees ‘no find, no fee’ terms to restart flight MH370 search

Crew members on a Malaysian Air Force aircraft during a search and rescue operation to find the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 plane over the Strait of Malacca on March 14, 2014. Photo: AFP

New search for vanished Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 welcomed by families seeking closure

Family members of passengers and crew on board missing flight MH370 and Malaysia’s Transport Minister, Loke Siew Fook at an event in Subang Jaya last year marking the 10th anniversary of its disappearance. Photo: EPA-EFE

Crew on board a vessel in the southern Indian Ocean involved in a search in 2018 led by Ocean Infinity for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. Photo: EPA-EFE

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Asia

Southeast Asia

Malaysia’s transport minister said Ocean Infinity will resume the search for the plane at the end of this year


Malaysia’s transport minister said Ocean Infinity will resume the search for the plane at the end of this year.


Malaysia Airlines flight 370

Plane crashes and aviation accidents