KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 19 — Malaysia will raise with Australia and China a cash reward for any private parties that manage to locate Flight MH370’s main wreckage, the New Straits Times quoted the Transport Ministry as saying.

Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Abdul Aziz Kaprawi told the daily that Putrajaya would allow private entities to search for the Malaysia Airlines plane that disappeared in March 2014, after the three governments called off Tuesday the underwater search.

"The reward will only be for the successful discovery of the fuselage,” Abdul Aziz was quoted saying.

"The companies will have to bear their own costs and expenses, and they are free to search for the plane anywhere,” he added, without detailing the sum of the reward.

The underwater search for the Boeing 777 jet led by Malaysia, Australia and China was suspended after failing to locate the wreckage in the 120,000-square kilometre search area in the southern Indian Ocean.

International newswire Reuters quoted the Australian government as saying yesterday that it was not ruling out a future underwater search for Flight MH370, but noted there was no credible new evidence to warrant it.

The families of those aboard the Malaysia Airlines plane, which had vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew, have urged Malaysia, China and Australia to reconsider calling off the search.