Search for MH370 to be suspended: Malaysia

Kuala Lampur, July 22: Search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is to be suspended, the Malaysian government said to the passengers' next of kin in a statement on Friday (July 22).

The governments of Malaysia, Australia and China restated their commitment to completing the current search zone of 120,000 square kilometres, but stipulated in their statement that "in the absence of credible new evidence leading to the identification of a specific location of the aircraft", the search would not end, but be suspended, CNN reported.

The statement was sent to the families after ministers from Australia, Malaysia and China met in Putrajaya, Malaysia.

Flight MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2014, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board. A whopping $135 million have been spent in the underwater search operation for the plane so far.

A joint search effort has not yet found the main body of the aircraft in the south Indian Ocean, where it presumably crashed.

IANS