KUALA LUMPUR, March 10 — After disappearing for more than one year with no traces of a crash, a Hong Kong paper suggested today that governments consider scaling back search efforts for MH370 and accept the “terrible truth” that people have died.
The South China Morning Post wrote in an editorial today that because of the lack of physical evidence to prove that the plane had crashed, family members of those on board are clutching on to the “most far-fetched theory”.
“The pain of those suffering loss is shared. A year on, though, it is time to consider a scaled-back search and to come to terms with the terrible truth that lives have been lost,” the paper wrote.
It said rumours claiming that the plane crashed on an island and all aboard survived or that it was captured by terrorists are “unrealistic views”.
“But the unexplained can lead those who are grieving to clutch on to even the most far-fetched theory,” it said.
Pointing out that the multi-million dollar search has yet to yield any results, the paper said questions are now being raised as to further funding and how much longer the operation should continue, even though such “cold, hard facts are meaningless” to the relatives of the 239 people of those aboard the ill-fated jetliner.
The Malaysia Airlines plane left Kuala Lumpur shortly after midnight on March 8 last year, en route to Beijing, China. It then fell off the radar less than an hour later and failed to reappear.
No trace of the Boeing 777-200ER has been found despite an international expedition that has scoured more than 26,000 square kilometres of the southern Indian Ocean and is already the longest-ever hunt for a scheduled commercial flight.
The underwater hunt is due to conclude in May, but international news agency AFP reported Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott as saying last Sunday that the search could be extended further “as long as there are reasonable leads”.
