KUALA LUMPUR, April 16 — Rough weather conditions during winter may lower the “intensity” of the ongoing underwater search for the missing Flight MH370 aircraft, Malaysia’s Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said today.

Liow said the intensity of the search in the southern Indian Ocean off the Australian coast may even be halved during winter — which falls between the months of June and August in Australia.

“That will depend on the weather, as you know when it comes to winter, we can only cover half the intensity as compared to summer,” he told reporters here.

The deadline for the current search phase is in May, but the search may be extended and conducted in an expanded area if the aircraft is still not found.

Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss, who was also present at the press conference, similarly said weather conditions are expected to deteriorate during winter with more down days for the search team.

“Also, it may not be possible to use the autonomous vehicles in those rough seas and difficult conditions,” said Truss, who is also Australia’s transport minister.

But he confirmed the same number of search equipment would be available in the possibly expanded search phase, saying: “The equipment will be there and available, but we may not be able to deploy them.”

Last month, Australia’s Prime Minister Tony Abbott expressed optimism that the search will be successful and pledged to continue the “best efforts”, saying, however, that he “can’t promise that the search will go on at this intensity forever”.

A tripartite meeting was held earlier today between Malaysia, China and Australia, where all three nations agreed to expand the search area if the aircraft is not found within the current 60,000-square-kilometre search area.

A year-long search since Flight MH370 disappeared in March last year has failed to yield any leads.

The commercial jet disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014 with 239 people on board.

On January 29 this year, the Malaysian government declared the loss of Flight MH370 as an accident under international aviation regulations.

Yesterday, the Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) said in an operational update that more than 60 per cent of the priority search area has been scoured, adding that the current underwater search area may be largely completed around the search deadline of May if there are no delays.

The search is jointly funded by Australia and Malaysia, with both splitting the A$120 million (RM325 million) pledged so far.

Following the tripartite meeting today, Liow said the expanded search phase for Flight MH370 will likely cost an additional A$50 million.