PERTH: The planned air search operation for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 some 855 kilometres north west of Perth has been forced to be suspended again Wednesday, due to poor weather.
Three aircraft had already departed for the search earlier Wednesday prior to the suspension being recalled, the Joint Agence Coordination Centre which oversees the search operation said.
The agency in their latest statement said that the weather conditions resulted in heavy seas and poor visibility, which made the air search activities ineffective and potentially hazardous.
The air search operation normally will take up eight hours return trip to the search location and two hours to do the search operation.
However, the 12 ships involved in the Wednesday’s search will continue with their planned activities.
On Tuesday, the air search operation was also suspended due to Tropical Cyclone Jack but later on the same day, it was resumed by five military aircraft.
Earlier today, the agency in a statement said up to ten aircraft wouldcontinue the search operation Wednesday despite weather forecast indicated chances of heavy rain and prevailing weather condition.
Flight MH370, with 239 people aboard, left the KL International Airport at 12.41 am on March 8 and disappeared from radar screens about an hour later while over the South China Sea. It was to have arrived in Beijing at 6.30 am on the same day.
A multinational search was mounted for the Boeing 777-200 aircraft, first in the South China Sea and then, after it was learnt that the plane had veered off course, in the southern Indian Ocean.
After an analysis of satellite data indicated that the plane’s last position was in the middle of the Indian Ocean, west of Perth, Australia, Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced on March 24 that Flight MH370 “ended in the southern Indian Ocean”.– BERNAMA