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MH370 Search Area Will Not Be Extended Any Further, Australian Officials Confirm

The Search For Missing Malaysian Flight MH370 Could Be Over
Kathryn Snowdon
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Investigators will not expand the search zone for missing Malaysian Flight MH370, Australian officials announced on Wednesday.

The hunt for the plane, which vanished with 239 people on board more than a year ago, will not continue beyond the current area unless specific new leads are uncovered.

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MH370 underwater search area planning map, taken from Australian Transport Safety Bureau document

The aircraft disappeared while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

In April, officials announced they would be doubling the area by a further 60,000 square kilometres if the Boeing 777 was not found by May.

This led to search teams scouring parts of the remote southern Indian Ocean.

Last month, crews made a "fascinating", albeit unexpected find when they stumbled upon debris from an 19th century cargo ship.

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But on Wednesday the Australian-led Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) confirmed that the search area will not be expended any further.

A statement on the JACC's website said: "As announced in April, the search area has been expanded beyond an original 60,000 square kilometre search area to enable up to 120,000 square kilometres to be searched if required.

"In the absence of credible new information that leads to the identification of a specific location of the aircraft, governments have agreed that there will be no further expansion of the search area."

More than 50,000 square kilometres of the seafloor have been searched so far and crews are conscious of the impending poor weather conditions when winter hits the region in a few weeks.

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Investigators are concerned about the weather conditions when winter hits, image from Australian Transport Safety Bureau document

"Safety of the search crews, as always, remains a priority and vessels and equipment utilised will vary to reflect operational needs, particularly during winter months.

"Upon completion of the current swing, the current contract with Phoenix International will expire and GO Phoenix will cease search operations and transit to Singapore. This will occur near the end of June," JACC said.

MH370: What we know for sure
The pilots' final conversation showed nothing 'abnormal'(01 of05)
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Malaysian authorities released transcripts of the crew's final exchange with air traffic control, saying it showed nothing irregular. The last words were: "Good night, Malaysian 370." (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
The plane changed direction - but we don't know why(02 of05)
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Investigators say they believe the plane turned south after its final radar contact and flew over the southern Indian Ocean, where it is believed to have crashed. (credit:Getty Images)
No trace of the plane has been found(03 of05)
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Despite an exhaustive air and sea search, no trace of the plane has yet been found, due to the size of the area and the depth of the ocean being searched. The search thought it had detected 'pings' from the plane's black box but these may have been from another source and the area they came from was later ruled out as the plane's final resting place. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
If human action brought the plane down, the pilot is a suspect(04 of05)
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Pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah (pictured top right next to co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid) had no social plans or engagements after March 8, the day the plane vanished. Shah also programmed flights far into the southern Indian Ocean - the plane's most likely resting place - on the flight simulator at his home. The rest of the crew all passed security checks, it was reported. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
The search will take a long time(05 of05)
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Within weeks of MH370 disappearing, authorities warned the search could take "years". The initial sea and air search has been called off but oceanographers are mapping the ocean floor in preparation for a one-year search that will begin late this month to find the wreckage. (credit:ASSOCIATED PRESS)
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