INVESTIGATORS have suspended the last-ditch search effort to find the doomed MH370 plane that vanished more than a decade ago.
Malaysian authorities said they were forced to stop the search operation due to bad weather conditions.
Ocean InfinityOcean Infinity’s search vessel has been deployed to a new search zone in the southern Indian Ocean[/caption]
National GeographicA computer-generated image shows what the MH370’s final moments might look like after it’s believed to have plummeted into the Southern Indian Ocean in 2014[/caption]
ReutersA Boeing 777 flapiron cut down to match the one from flight MH370 found on Reunion island off the coast of Africa in 2015, is lowered into water[/caption]
EPAThe plane vanished with all 239 passengers onboard with only a few pieces of washed-up debris ever found[/caption]
Transport Minister Anthony Loke said: “They have stopped the operation for the time being, they will resume the search at the end of this year.
“Right now, it’s not the season.”
MH370 carrying 239 people disappeared from radar screens on March 8, 2014, while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
Despite the largest search in aviation history, the plane has not yet been found.
Loke’s comments come just a month after Malaysian authorities announced a fresh hunt for the doomed jet.
After years of stalled efforts, the government finally approved Ocean Infinity’s latest search.
And the plan was to cover a vast 15,000 sq km (5,790 sq miles) area in the southern Indian Ocean.
The deep-sea exploration company had dispatched its cutting-edge mothership the Armada 7806 to a newly identified high-priority zone 1,200 miles off Perth, Australia.
This is the fourth major search for MH370 to have failed.
Experts warned the mission could be the final attempt to find the wreckage — unless new evidence emerges.
A mystery that won’t die
Less than an hour after takeoff, MH370 vanished from the radars and deviated dramatically from its planned route.
Despite an international search costing £120 million, no sign of the Boeing 777 was ever found.
Theories have run wild ever since. Investigators believe the aircraft ended up in the southern Indian Ocean, but the reasons for its disappearance remain unknown.
Some experts suspect the pilot deliberately took it off course, while conspiracy theories range from a hijacking cover-up to military intervention.
An official 2018 report concluded that “the answer can only be conclusive if the wreckage is found.”
Why is MH370 still missing a decade on?
By Rebecca Husselbee, Assistant Foreign Editor
When an entire plane with 239 passengers mysteriously disappeared from the sky it left the world in utter disbelief – myself included.
How could an entire jet vanish into oblivion in a modern world when every move on land, sea and air is tracked? And how could it remain lost for a decade?
Having spent the last few years exploring the many theories on what MH370’s final moments might look like, from the bizarre to the complex, there is one hypothesis that answers every question for me.
Pilot Simon Hardy has left no stone unturned in his search for answers and having been at the helm of passenger flights for over 20 years he knows every inch of a Boeing 777 cockpit.
What makes his “technique, not a theory” even more compelling is his ability to access the world’s best flight simulators and sit in Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah’s seat as he commandeered the Malaysia Airlines and flew into the middle of the Southern Indian Ocean.
While others believe WSPR technology holds the key to finally discovering the wreckage, it’s never been proven and many in the MH370 community have questioned its reliability.
Many experts agree that the “suicidal” MH370 pilot was behind the plane’s demise – what we’ll never know is what his mindset was on that night and what motive he had to carry out such a chilling plan.
Passenger safety onboard in the aviation industry is rigorous and the likelihood of travellers being involved in a plane crash is 1 in 11 million.
But are airlines considering a pilot’s mental state when they sit at the controls of a jet that could be turned into a 300-ton death machine?
x/BigOceanDataThis image shows the Ocean Infinity vessel going back and forth over the search area – the red zone is what has been previously searched[/caption]