Wreckage of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 might never be found after suspension of underwater search 
 
 The underwater search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has come to an end, with passengers’ families informed that the effort to find the plane has been suspended. 
 
 Next of kin were told in an emailed statement on Tuesday that Australian authorities’ underwater search of 120,000 sq km in the southern Indian ocean had concluded without success after more than two years. 
 
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 The MH370 Tripartite Joint Communiqué was co-signed by the transport ministers of Malaysia, China and Australia, representing the three countries involved in the search. It was made public at 2pm Malaysia time. 
 
 “Today the last search vessel has left the underwater search area. Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has not been located in the 120,000 square-kilometre underwater search area in the southern Indian Ocean,” it read. 
 
 “Despite every effort using the best science available, cutting edge technology, as well as modelling and advice from highly skilled professionals who are the best in their field, unfortunately, the search has not been able to locate the aircraft. 
 
 “The decision to suspend the underwater search has not been taken lightly nor without sadness.” 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Statement on the suspension of the search for MH370 Photograph: Handout 
 
 Flight MH370 disappeared on 8 March 2014, vanishing from radar shortly after take-off from Kuala Lumpar en route to Beijing. The plane is believed to have crashed in the Indian Ocean, claiming the lives of all 239 crew and passengers on board. 
 
 
 
 The announcement to suspend the search comes six weeks out from the third anniversary of the plane’s disappearance, with the unsuccessful conclusion of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau’s search of the so-called “seventh arc”. 
 
 At a tripartite meeting in July 2016, the three transport ministers had acknowledged the “diminishing” likelihood of finding the plane. If the full 120,000 sq km area was searched without success, the effort was to “not end, but be suspended” indefinitely, they said – reiterating their earlier resolution made in April 2015. 
 
 In December, the ATSB said it had a “high degree of confidence” that the wreck would not be found in the seventh arc – the first time it had publicly lost confidence in the search zone. Instead, it highlighted a new area of approximately 25,000 sq km – between latitudes 33 degrees south and 36 degrees south – as “the area with the highest probability of containing the wreckage of the aircraft”. 
 
 The tripartite statement said Tuesday’s announcement was consistent with its decision made in July 2016. 
 
 
 
 “Whilst combined scientific studies have continued to refine areas of probability, to date no new information has been discovered to determine the specific location of the aircraft.” 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest A 2m-long wing flap from MH370, found off Tanzania, was identified by experts in Canberra in September 2016. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images 
 
 The flight was carrying 152 Chinese nationals and 50 from Malaysia, as well as passengers from Australia, Canada, France, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Russia, Taiwan, Ukraine and the United States. 
 
 
 
 Chandrika Sharma, of Chennai in India, was among the 239 people on board MH370. 
 
 “This decision appears premeditated and a betrayal of the commitment to the families and the public that the governments are committed to the search,” K S Narendran, her husband of 25 years, told the Guardian. 
 
 “It must also come as a blow to all this who have worked tirelessly to find answers and find the plane.” 
 
 Voice370, a group representing passengers’ next of kin, accused the governments of being closed to the possibility of extending the search. 
 
 “Expecting to determine ‘the precise location of the aircraft’ before continuing the search was at best an erroneous expectation and at worst a clever formulation to bury the search. Why would you need to search if you already knew the precise location of the aircraft? 
 
 “In our view, extending the search to the new area defined by the experts is an inescapable duty owed to the flying public in the interest of aviation safety. Commercial planes cannot just be allowed to disappear without a trace.” 
 
 The decision not to extend the search to the smaller area pinpointed by the ATSB suggested to Voice370 that officials had lost confidence in the data used to determine the search area. 
 
 The statement ended with an appeal to the governments to reconsider their decision. 
 
 The search for MH370 has been a multimillion-dollar effort on the parts of Australia, Malaysia and China. The operation is believed to have cost around AU$180m, paid for by Australia and Malaysia. China donated AU$20m in funding and equipment. 
 
 
 
 Progress was frustrated by difficulties in reaching the search zone and the largely uncharted part of the Indian Ocean it was believed to have crashed in. The final 20,000 sq km in particular were delayed by poor weather conditions throughout 2016. 
 
 
 
 But investigators remained optimistic, with Martin Dolan, the head of the ATSB, expressing confidence in March 2016, the two-year anniversary of its disappearance, that the plane would be found within that 120,000 sq km area. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Rolls-Royce stencilling helped identify this part, washed up on Mossel Bay, South Africa in March 2016, as a segment from a 777 engine cowling. Photograph: Neels Kruger/AFP/Getty Images 
 
 In July 2015 authorities had a breakthrough, when they found debris on the island of Réunion that was later confirmed to be a flaperon from the flight. 
 
 Several more pieces of debris were confirmed to have come from MH370, including a wing flap found on an island off the coast of Tanzania in June and sent to Canberra for analysis that was found to be from a Boeing 777. 
 
 Investigators say the failure to find the wreckage does not mean all search efforts will end. But those seeking answers for the disappearance of the plane – and those on board – now face the prospect that the fate of MH370 might never be known. ||||| The Australian, Malaysian and Chinese governments have announced the hunt for missing flight MH370 will end immediately, after a two-year search of a 120,000sq km stretch of the Indian Ocean failed to find the plane. 
 
 
 
 "Despite every effort using the best science available, cutting edge technology, as well as modelling and advice from highly skilled professionals who are the best in their field, unfortunately, the search has not been able to locate the aircraft," the three governments, who have coordinated the search, said in a joint statement. 
 
 
 
 "Accordingly, the underwater search for MH370 has been suspended. The decision to suspend the underwater search has not been taken lightly nor without sadness." 
 
 MH370 disappeared in March 2014 with 239 people on board en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Most of the passengers were Chinese or Malaysian and six were Australian. 
 
 In December, fresh Australian Transport Safety Bureau analysis – conducted by a panel of international investigators – found the plane likely crashed in a stretch of the Indian Ocean north of the existing search zone. 
 
 With a "high degree of confidence" and using newly available information, the panel concluded that the plane would not be found in the 120,000sq km search zone and recommended the search be extended into the new 25,000sq km stretch. 
 
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 Link An observer on a Japan Coast Guard Gulfstream aircraft takes photos out of a window while searching for MH370. Photo: AP 
 
 But the Australian government quickly dismissed the idea, saying the three countries leading the $200 million search had agreed to end it unless credible evidence about the "specific location" of the aircraft is found. 
 
 On Tuesday afternoon, the three governments reiterated this position. 
 
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 "Whilst combined scientific studies have continued to refine areas of probability, to date no new information has been discovered to determine the specific location of the aircraft," they said. 
 
 "We remain hopeful that new information will come to light and that at some point in the future the aircraft will be located." 
 
 Victims' families were notified before the decision was made public. 
 
 Danica Weeks, whose husband Paul was on board the plane, condemned the decision as "unacceptable and disgusting" and vowed to continue lobbying for continued search efforts. 
 
 "I was kind of hoping that the announcement was going to be that they would search the 25,000 [sq km], not that the search was going to end," she told Fairfax Media following the announcement. 
 
 "I won't accept it. None of us will. They won't get away with this and we'll just keep fighting." 
 
 Mrs Weeks said the plane needed to be found not just for the victims' families but for the sake of the aviation industry, in order to address the unanswered questions about how the plane came down. 
 
 "I never thought this day was going to come. I hoped it wouldn't happen this way ... It just can't end like this. The Malaysian government promised to bring them home. If they think this will go away, it definitely won't." 
 
 Follow Fergus Hunter on Facebook ||||| A family member of a passenger aboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 which went missing in 2014 reacts during a protest outside the Chinese foreign ministry in Beijing, July 29, 2016. The hat reads 'Pray for MH370' REUTERS/Thomas Peter/Files 
 
 FILE PHOTO Handwritten notes on how a crew member should report the sighting of debris in the southern Indian Ocean is pictured on a window aboard a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3K2 Orion aircraft searching for missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, March 22, 2014. REUTERS/Jason Reed/File Photo 
 
 FILE PHOTO Squadron leader Brett McKenzie marks the name of another search aircraft on the windshield of a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3K2 Orion aircraft searching for missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 over the southern Indian Ocean March 22, 2014. REUTERS/Jason Reed/File Photo 
 
 Flight officer Rayan Gharazeddine looks out of a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) AP-3C Orion as it flies over the southern Indian Ocean during the search for missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 March 22, 2014. REUTERS/Rob Griffith/Pool/File Photo 
 
 SYDNEY The deep-sea search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 ended on Tuesday without any trace being found of the plane that vanished in 2014 with 239 people on board, the three countries involved in the search said. 
 
 The location of Flight MH370 has become one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries since the plane, a Boeing 777, disappeared en route to Beijing from the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur. 
 
 "Despite every effort using the best science available ... the search has not been able to locate the aircraft," Malaysian, Australian and Chinese authorities said in a statement. 
 
 "The decision to suspend the underwater search has not been taken lightly nor without sadness." 
 
 The last search vessel left the area on Tuesday, the three countries said, after scouring the 120,000-sq-km (46,000-sq-mile) area of the Indian Ocean sea floor that has been the focus of the almost-three-year search. 
 
 Malaysia, Australia and China agreed in July to suspend the $145 million search if the plane was not found, or if new evidence that might offer a clue as to its whereabouts was not uncovered, once that area had been checked. 
 
 Australia last month dismissed an investigators' recommendation to shift the search further north, saying that no new evidence had emerged to support that. 
 
 Since the crash, there have been competing theories over whether one, both or no pilots were in control, whether it was hijacked - or whether all aboard perished and the plane was not controlled at all when it hit the water. 
 
 Adding to the mystery, investigators believe someone may have deliberately switched off the plane's transponder before diverting it thousands of miles out over the Indian Ocean. 
 
 A next-of-kin support group called Voice 370 said in a statement investigators could not leave the matter unsolved. 
 
 "In our view, extending the search to the new area defined by the experts is an inescapable duty owed to the flying public in the interest of aviation safety," Voice 370 said. 
 
 Most of the passengers were from China. 
 
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 A Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman, asked about the end of the search, said China placed great importance on the search and had actively participated in it alongside Australia and Malaysia. The spokeswoman did not elaborate. 
 
 Malaysia Airlines (MAS) said the hunt had been "thorough and comprehensive" and it "stands guided by the decision of the three governments to suspend the search". 
 
 "MAS remains hopeful that in the near future, new and significant information will come to light and the aircraft would eventually be located," it said. 
 
 Boeing said it accepted the conclusion of the authorities leading the search. 
 
 Malaysia and Australia have contributed the bulk of search financing. 
 
 Malaysia holds ultimate responsibility given Malaysia Airlines is registered there. The aircraft is thought to have crashed west of Australia, placing it in its maritime zone of responsibility. 
 
 Grace Nathan, whose mother, Anne Daisy, was on the plane said the governments should consider the recommendation to search an additional 25,000 square kilometres. 
 
 "If money is a concern, prioritise within this area," Nathan said. 
 
 In China, Jiang Hui, whose mother was also on board the flight, said he felt "disappointed, helpless and angry" because the search had been ended "purely due to a funding shortage". 
 
 "The 370 incident is the most important thing in my life," he said, referring to the flight number. 
 
 The only confirmed traces of the plane have been three pieces of debris found washed up on the island country Mauritius, the French island Reunion and an island off Tanzania. 
 
 As many as 30 other pieces of wreckage found there and on beaches in Mozambique, Tanzania and South Africa are suspected to have come from the plane. 
 
 The engineering group leading the search, Fugro has raised the prospect someone could have glided the aircraft outside of the defined search zone to explain why it has not been found. 
 
 A Fugro representative was not immediately available for comment. 
 
 Twelve of the 239 on board were crew. According to the flight manifest, 152 passengers were Chinese, 50 Malaysian, seven Indonesian, six Australian, five Indian, four French and three were American. 
 
 (Reporting by Tom Westbrook and Jonathan Barrett in SYDNEY. Additional reporting by Rozanna Latiff in KUALA LUMPUR and Christian Shepherd in BEIJING; Editing by Robert Birsel)
– The fate of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 and the 239 people on board may remain a mystery forever. Malaysian, Australian, and Chinese authorities announced Tuesday that the deep-sea search has ended without finding any trace of the missing plane, Reuters reports. The last vessel has left the search area and "despite every effort using the best science available, cutting edge technology ... unfortunately, the search has not been able to locate the aircraft," authorities said in a statement issued after the families of passengers and crew were notified of the decision. "The decision to suspend the underwater search has not been taken lightly nor without sadness." The Boeing 777 disappeared nearly three years ago en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur. The three countries said last year that the search would be suspended after the 46,300-square mile search area in the Indian Ocean had been scoured. Australian experts recently recommended searching a 10,000-square-mile area to the north, but authorities appear to have lost confidence in the data, the Guardian reports. Families say they will keep fighting for the search to continue, reports the Sydney Morning Herald. "I never thought this day was going to come. I hoped it wouldn't happen this way," says Danica Weeks, whose husband, Paul, was on the plane. "It just can't end like this. The Malaysian government promised to bring them home. If they think this will go away, it definitely won't."