KUALA LUMPUR, June 22 — The ongoing search for the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 in the Southern Indian Ocean could be extended until October this year due to bad weather, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said.
The search was initially supposed to finish combing a 120,000 sq km area by next month but has been delayed due to “cold and rough sea” conditions.
“We cannot subject the search team to the high risks. The search will continue when the weather gets better,” the transport minister was quoted as saying by The Star in a report today.
The search team has so far finished combing 107,000 sq km of the target area.
Liow also asked the public not to speculate on the debris of a plane that has been found in different parts of the African coast recently.
“The countries in the region will first analyse if the plane parts belong to a Boeing 777. If they do, we will then bring them back to examine whether they are part of MH370,” he said.
The search at the Southern Indian Ocean commenced in June 2014 and was supposed to initially conclude in July this year.
It has been reported that the US$124.17 million (RM 501.76 million) search would not be extended beyond the 120,000 sq km area.
A flaperon from MH370 was discovered on Reunion Island last July while another part suspected to be from the plane was found on the coast off Mozambique earlier this year.
Government officials from Malaysia, Australia and China ended a two-day special tripartite talk on whether or not to continue search plans for the jet in Putrajaya yesterday without reaching a decision.
Instead, talks are expected to be taken to a ministerial level next month.
