MH370 Hunt Ends, Maybe Forever, After Nearly 3 Years and $160M

MH370 Hunt Ends, Maybe Forever, After Nearly 3 Years and $160M
In this March 31, 2014 file photo, the shadow of a Royal New Zealand Air Force P3 Orion is seen on low level cloud while the aircraft searches for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean, near the coast of Western Australia. After nearly three years, the hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 ended in futility and frustration on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2017, as crews completed their deep-sea search of a desolate stretch of the Indian Ocean without finding a single trace of the plane. AP Photo/Rob Griffith, File
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The nearly three-year search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 ended Tuesday, possibly forever—not because investigators have run out of leads, but because the countries involved in the expensive and vast deep-sea hunt have shown no appetite for opening another big phase.

Late last year, as ships with high-tech search equipment covered the last strips of the 120,000-square kilometer (46,000-square mile) search zone, experts concluded they should have been searching a smaller area immediately to the north. But by then, $160 million had already been spent by Malaysia, Australia and China, who had agreed over the summer not to search elsewhere without pinpoint evidence.

The transport ministers of those countries reiterated that decision Tuesday in the joint communique issued by the Joint Agency Coordination Center in Australia that announced the search for Flight 370—and the 239 people aboard the aircraft—had been suspended.

“Despite every effort using the best science available, cutting-edge technology, as well as modeling and advice from highly skilled professionals who are the best in their field, unfortunately, the search has not been able to locate the aircraft,” said the agency, which helped lead the hunt for the Boeing 777 in remote waters west of Australia.

In this March 22, 2014 file photo, flight officer Rayan Gharazeddine on board a Royal Australian Air Force AP-3C Orion, searches for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in southern Indian Ocean, Australia. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith, File)
In this March 22, 2014 file photo, flight officer Rayan Gharazeddine on board a Royal Australian Air Force AP-3C Orion, searches for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in southern Indian Ocean, Australia. AP Photo/Rob Griffith, File