MH370 search could continue for another year, says report

KUALA LUMPUR — Search operations for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 could continue for another year, officials said two days after French authorities formally identified a wing part found on the shore of Reunion Island as part of the missing plane.

In an article by News 24, Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said that the discovery confirmed the need to continue the search.

“The strategic working group of Malaysia, China and Australia will get into action to intensify the search with the hope of finding more evidence as to the cause of the likely crash and eventually find the missing jetliner,” Mr Liow was quoted as saying.

This is despite Australia’s announcement yesterday that the confirmation would not alter current search operations.

“It hasn’t changed our thinking about the search area,” chief commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau Martin Dolan said in an AFP report.

“All we know is that the flaperon at some point became detached from the aircraft and there are a range of possible scenarios from that.

“We will watch developments obviously but at this stage we haven’t seen anything that actually assists in refining or changing the search area.”

However, Mr Dolan said he was still confident the plane would be found in the search area, which is scheduled to have been completely combed by the end of June 2016.

Australian Transport Minister Warren Truss meanwhile was reported saying that once the area of highest probability had been covered, search operations would end as per agreement with the countries involved.

The piece of wing found on the shore of Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean was the first real clue in what has become one of the greatest mysteries in aviation history.

MH370 disappeared from radar on March 8, 2014, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The Boeing 777 was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members. THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER