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Teams have already searched a 120,000 square kilometre area. PA Images

Mystery unsolved: Private search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is called off

Ocean Infinity stood to make up to $70 million if the plane was found.

A PRIVATE HUNT for flight MH370 will end in the coming days, a search firm has said, about four years after the plane’s disappearance sparked one of the world’s greatest aviation mysteries.

The Malaysia Airlines jet vanished in March 2014 with 239 people — mostly from China — on board, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

No sign of the plane was found in a 120,000-square kilometre sea search zone and the Australian-led hunt, the largest in aviation history, was suspended in January last year.

After pressure from families, the former Malaysian government struck a deal with US exploration firm Ocean Infinity to restart the search in January on the condition it would only be paid if the Boeing 777 or its black boxes were found.

The firm stood to make up to $70 million if successful but did not find any sign of the airliner despite scouring the seabed with some of the world’s most high-tech search equipment.

The hunt was officially meant to end late April but was extended. However, the new government of Mahathir Mohamad, which came to power after a shock election win this month, announced last week the search was set to end.

Texas-based Ocean Infinity said in a statement Tuesday that “its current search for the wreckage of… Flight MH370 is shortly coming to an end”.

A spokesman added the hunt would end in the coming days, without giving a precise date.

The new hunt was in an area of about 25,000 square kilometres in the southern Indian Ocean, north of the previous search zone.

The ship conducting the hunt, Seabed Constructor, was a Norwegian research vessel carrying 65 crew, including two members of the Malaysian navy as the government’s representatives.

It scoured the waters for wreckage using eight autonomous drones equipped with sonars and cameras, and able to operate at depths up to 6,000 metres.

Only three confirmed fragments of MH370 have been found, all of them on western Indian Ocean shores, including a two-metre wing part known as a flaperon.

The jet’s disappearance stands as one of the most enduring aviation mysteries of all time and has spawned a host of theories, with some blaming a hijacking or even a terror plot.

© – AFP 2018

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    Mute mary conneely
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    Jul 3rd 2015, 5:13 PM

    And if Shannon are cute they will give them an hour in duty free while they are waiting

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    Mute Mary Cullinane
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    Jul 3rd 2015, 4:58 PM

    Nightmare stuff for the passengers at the time I’d say. Glad all is well anyway & better be safe than sorry.

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    Mute Craig Barry
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    Jul 3rd 2015, 5:41 PM

    This is becoming almost a weekly occurrence – so many diversions as of late..

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    Mute Mick Rooney (TIPM)
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    Jul 3rd 2015, 6:22 PM

    … or just being reported more in the news, Craig.

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    Mute Mark Collins
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    Jul 3rd 2015, 6:39 PM

    Been working in shannon since 2006 and in my opinion that is the only difference it is making the news when before it didn’t

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    Mute Mick Rooney (TIPM)
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    Jul 3rd 2015, 7:05 PM

    With 3000+ aircraft in the air at any given time you can be sure that a handful of pilots are dealing with issues from unruly passengers, to ill passengers, poor weather, tech issues, faulty cockpit alerts; all of which can lead to a diversion or declared emergency. I made the point on a separate thread RE the 787 diversion to Shannon this week, that if every news agency were to report every aviation incident then there would be little space left for other local and international news.

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    Mute Tom
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    Jul 4th 2015, 2:35 AM

    Well 787′s were a bit flammable for a while there!
    Hopefully that’s all sorted by now.

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    Mute Scott Crossfield
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    Jul 3rd 2015, 8:10 PM

    Plane is just out of retirement to cover for the one damaged in the hailstorms

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    Mute Tom
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    Jul 4th 2015, 2:35 AM

    The incident over china?
    Wonder how long it will take them to repair that plane.

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    Mute AN other
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    Jul 3rd 2015, 6:10 PM

    Maybe they’ll get pre-clearance now that they’re taking off from shannon directly to the states

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    Mute Spoddgy
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    Jul 3rd 2015, 8:28 PM

    Delta seem to be a great airline

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