China, Malaysia, Australia to discuss future of MH370 search
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Kuala Lumpur - Ministers from three countries most affected by the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 are to meet this month to discuss the search for the plane, amid pressure from victim's families not to give up looking.
The representatives from Australia, China and Malaysia will gather in Kuala Lumpur on July 19, a senior official said Friday.
No sign of the missing Boeing 777 has been found, with the search of the designated area of the Southern Indian Ocean set be completed in July or August, Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said.
Families of the 239 people aboard the missing Beijing-bound MH370, including 153 Chinese nationals, have asked the authorities to continue the search until the plane is found.
Around 107,000 square kilometres of the designated 120,000 square kilometres of ocean has been combed by specialist search vessels.
Flight MH370 disappeared with 239 people on board on March 8, 2014,nearly an hour after it took off from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Experts believed the plane crashed in the southern Indian Ocean.
"We will make an announcement to the public on the way forward," after the July 19 meeting, Liow told reporters.
Several pieces of debris from the missing plane washed up in Africa.
Experts said this was consistent with the plane going down in the search area.
- DPA
