Underwater search for MH370 to be completed by May

World Today

Nicolette Gomes reacts while watching the broadcast of Malaysia’s government declare the crash of Flight 370 an accident on her TV in Petaling Jaya outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2015. Photo: AP

The underwater search for the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is expected to be completed by May, an official of Malaysian Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) said in a technical briefing Friday.

DCA Flight Operations Assistance Director Capt. Mior Nor Badrishah Mohamad said that the weather condition will be challenging for the search after May, as the waves could be very big in the region.

He said that only about 30 percent of the 60,000 square kilometer (23,166 square mile) underwater search area had been searched so far, adding that the current search area in the hunt for the MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean was the right place.

The searchers are confident that the aircraft is in the search area, Mior said, adding that if they cannot find the plane there, they need to sit down again and discuss about the best way forward with all the available data.

Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, a Boeing 777 aircraft with 239 people on board, disappeared on March 8 last year shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur en-route to Beijing.

This story is compiled with information from Xinhua.