Record-breaking MH370 search

PETALING JAYA: The search for MH370 has been record-breaking in many ways.

More than RM500mil (nearly A$180mil) has reportedly been spent for what is the most expensive aviation search in history.

The search undertaken by Australia, Malaysia and China has scoured more than 110,000sq km of seafloor in the southern Indian Ocean, an area nearly the size of Sarawak which is 124,450sq km.

A week after its disappearance, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said evidence indicated that the aircraft had been deliberately diverted by someone on board about an hour after take-off.

But even after more than two years and an extensive investigation, there have been few clues about what may have happened to the Boeing 777-200ER and its passengers, comprising 12 crew members and 227 passengers from Malaysia, China, Iran, the United States, Canada, Indo­­­nesia, Australia, India, France, Ukraine, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Russia and Taiwan.

On July 29 last year, a two-metre-long wing part known as a flaperon was found in the French overseas territory of La Reunion.

Najib later announced that investigators had “conclusively confirmed” that the debris was from the missing MH370.

In February, two pieces of debris were found on a sandbank in Mozambique. About three months later, Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said the two pieces “almost certainly” came from MH370.