KUALA LUMPUR: The latest search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has been suspended as it is “not the season”, Malaysia’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 AFP on Thursday (Apr 3) by his aide.
“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.
The Boeing 777 carrying 239 people disappeared from radar screens on Mar 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 a little over a month after authorities said the search had resumed, following earlier failed attempts that covered vast swaths of the Indian Ocean.
An initial Australia-led search covered 120,000 sq km 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.
“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.
