PUTRAJAYA, May 23 — Transport Minister Anthony Loke said today Putrajaya will extend the search for missing Flight MH370 until May 29, next Tuesday, as requested by seabed exploration firm Ocean Infinity.

However, if the aircraft wreckage is not discovered within the stipulated timeframe, Loke said the search by the company will be discontinued.

"The current search ends May 29 and will not be extended beyond May 29.

"The company had requested that the search is extended for another week. Based on a ‘no cure no fee’ deal, the government would not need to pay if the wreckage or black box is found,” he said.

Earlier today, newly elected Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said Malaysia will review and possibly end its agreement with a private US firm searching for the plane.

Flight MH370, carrying 239 people, disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014, in one of the world’s greatest aviation mysteries.

The previous Malaysian administration had agreed in January to pay Houston-based Ocean Infinity up to US$70 million (RM278.5 million) if it found the plane during a search in the southern Indian Ocean that is expected to end in June.

The decision to engage Ocean Infinity came after Australia, China and Malaysia ended a fruitless A$200 million (RM795 million) search across a 120,000 sq km area in the Indian Ocean last year, despite investigators calling for the target area to be extended 25,000 sq km north.