SYDNEY // The massive underwater search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was called off on Tuesday, leaving unsolved one of the most enduring mysteries of the aviation age.
Nearly three years after the airliner vanished, distraught relatives refused to accept the idea that the 239 passengers and crew might now never be found after the failure of one of the most expensive undersea operations ever.
“Despite every effort using the best science available, cutting edge technology, as well as modelling and advice from highly skilled professionals who are the best in their field, unfortunately, the search has not been able to locate the aircraft,” said a statement from Australia, China and Malaysia.
“Accordingly, the underwater search for MH370 has been suspended.”
The Malaysia Airlines jet disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014.
An initial search focused on an area east of peninsular Malaysia, but attention soon shifted to the west when it emerged the plane had changed course and headed into the Indian Ocean – just as its communications equipment had been switched off.
The information spawned speculation that the plane had been hijacked or rerouted, but little supporting evidence could be produced and conspiracy theories abounded.
Investigators later focused their search on a 120,000 square kilometre area to the west of Australia.
Malaysia Airlines hailed the search effort as “thorough and comprehensive”, adding it was hopeful “new and significant information will come to light and the aircraft would eventually be located”.
Relatives lashed out at the announcement, with campaign group Voice370 calling on authorities to prolong the hunt, which has cost upwards of US$135 million (Dh496m).
“In our view, extending the search to the new area defined by the experts is an inescapable duty owed to the flying public in the interest of aviation safety,” the group said.
“Commercial planes cannot just be allowed to disappear without a trace.”
Relatives have repeatedly complained about the lack of a coordinated search in the western Indian Ocean and along the African coast, where three pieces of debris confirmed to have come from the stricken plane have been found.
Search coordinators countered that oceanic drift patterns were consistent with debris making its way from the presumed crash site to the western fringes of the Indian Ocean.
The search for MH370 was on an unprecedented scale and in one of the world’s remotest locations, where winds tear up north from Antarctica whipping up mountainous seas.
A Amirtham, 62, whose only son S Puspanathan was on board MH370, spoke of the pain she and her husband G Subramaniam have endured over the years.
“Deep down in my heart, I believe he is alive,” she said.
“How can they stop the search when they have not found the plane? I am sad and confused because I just do not know if my son is dead or alive.”
* Agence France-Presse
