Search for missing MH370 to be suspended, say officials

The governments of Malaysia, Australia and China announced on Friday that search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 would be suspended upon completion of the current search area.

The ministers from Malaysia, China and Australia today met in Kuala Lumpur to discuss the future of the search in one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries, reports abc.net.au.

In a statement issued to the victims' next of kin, they said the search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 will be 'suspended' if the plane is not found in the current search area.

The statement added that the ministers had agreed if the plane was not found in the current search area then the search "would not end but be suspended" in the absence of new credible evidence on its location.

So far, the reports suggest that almost $180 million has been spent on an underwater search spanning 1,20,000 square kilometres in the southern Indian Ocean.

The search, originally scheduled to end in June, has been hampered due to bad weather.

MH370 disappeared en-route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board on March 8, 2014.

The joint search effort, so far, has not yet found the main body of the aircraft in the south Indian Ocean, where it is presumed to have ended its journey.