Kuala Lumpur (Reuters) – The search for the wreckage of the Malaysia Airlines flight missing MH370 in the Southern Indian Ocean was suspended due to poor weather conditions and will not resume at the end of the year, said Minister of Transport Loke Siew on Thursday.
The flight MH370, a Boeing 777, transported 227 passengers and 12 crews when it disappeared on the road from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in 2014, in one of the greatest mysteries of the world aviation.
The Minister, quoted by the State news agency Bernama, did not explain why such a prolonged delay was necessary. In the southern hemisphere, it is now falling and bad winter conditions should then predominate for several months.
The exploration company responsible for looking for the wreckage of the plane, Ocean Infinity, did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
“I think that for the moment, it’s not the season. I think they (Ocean Infinity) have stopped the operation at the moment and will resume research at the end of this year,” said the Minister of Transport Loke by Bernama.
Last month, Malaysia accepted the terms and conditions of an agreement with Ocean Infinity to resume the search for MH370 in a new location estimated at 15,000 km2 (5,790 miles m²) in the south of the Indian Ocean.
Research is based on a principle “without discovery, free of charge”, in which Ocean Infinity will receive $ 70 million if the wreck is successfully located.
Responding to the news of the long delay, Kelvin Shim, whose woman was on the unfortunate flight, said that he was not surprised because the weather in the southern hemisphere was changing.
“We have been waiting for over 11 years, so it’s only a few more months … I can still wait,” said the 50 -year -old player.
(Report by Ashley Tang; edition by Gareth Jones)
