KUALA LUMPUR, June 9 — Malaysia has spent RM27.6 million for fuel, food and logistics in the ongoing search for Malaysian Airlines (MAS) flight MH370, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said today.

The acting Transport Minister said, however, that this is not the final cost for the search mission as the Boeing 777 jetliner has yet to be discovered.

The minister said the cost has not posed a major burden on Malaysia as the bill for the first phase of the mission was shared out among the respective countries involved.

“The cost that we had to bear is relatively small compared to the other assets given by other countries used in the search.

“I am proud that many of our friends have come forward to help in the search and they bear their own expenses and have not made any claims from us,” he told reporters at a press conference in Parliament.

The money was used mainly to pay for the five Malaysian agencies that took part in the search, Hishammuddin explained.

The five agencies are the Royal Malaysian Air Force, Royal Malaysian Navy, Royal Malaysian Police, Fire and Rescue Department and the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA).

The specialised assets that were deployed by assisting nations included the P3 Orion, P8 Poseidon, Ilyushin 11-76, nuclear submarines and ice breaker, Hishammuddin said.

“This is the cost that we have spent and I hope this will dispel any questions raised regarding the matter and that is why I am announcing it here today,” the minister added.

The Australian-led Joint Agency Coordination Centre said on May 29 that the first phase of the search had ended with no trace of the plane.

The search will enter a new phase covering a 60,000 square kilometre area along MH370’s probable flight arc over the southern Indian Ocean, but only after a bathymetric survey map of the sea floor is completed within a three-month window.

The ongoing search for flight MH370 is considered the longest and most expensive in the world’s aviation history, with the Reuters news agency estimating costs to have hit RM141 million in the first month alone.

The Boeing 777 jet, which was carrying 239 people on board, disappeared on March 8 after the plane veered from its Beijing-bound flight path and flew in the opposite direction towards the southern Indian Ocean.