Hunt for missing Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 will be 'suspended' by Christmas if the plane is not found in current search area

The search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 will be 'suspended' if the plane is not found in the current search area as hope fades for the victims' families. 

Ministers downplayed claims they had been searching the wrong area for two years citing there was not enough evidence to suggest the pilot glided to the sea instead of plummeting, which would have changed the dimensions of its possible location.

'With less than 10,000 square kilometres (3,861 square miles) of the high priority search area remaining to be searched, ministers acknowledged that despite the best efforts of all involved the likelihood of finding the aircraft is fading,' the three nations' transport ministers said after a meeting in Malaysia as the Indian Ocean continued to be scoured.

The current search has been hampered by bad weather, but is expected to finish in December. 

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The search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 will be 'suspended' if the plane is not found in the current search area, a statement issued to the next of kin seen by Reuters said on Friday

Ministers downplayed claims they had been searing the wrong area for two years citing there was not enough evidence to suggest the pilot glided to the sea instead of plummeting, which would have changed the dimensions of its possible location

Ministers from Malaysia, China and Australia met in Kuala Lumpur today to discuss the future of the search in one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries.

The statement from a next of kin of one of the victims, said ministers had agreed that if the plane is not found in current search area, and in the absence of new credible evidence on its location, the search 'would not end, but be suspended'.

Should that be the case, ministers  have said all data would be released, opening the door for private companies to pick up where they have left off.  

MH370 disappeared during a flight from the Malaysian capital to Beijing in March 2014, carrying 239 people.

Almost $180 million ($135 million) has been spent on an underwater search spanning 120,000 sq km in the southern Indian Ocean, the most expensive in aviation history.

The search, originally scheduled to end in June, has been hampered by bad weather. 

A map showing the area where underwater investigators have been searching and now believe it could be the wrong place and where debris has been found on La Reunion. Searchers have yet to suggest a new search are

Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said: 'In the absence of new evidence, Malaysia, Australia and China have collectively decided to suspend the search upon completion of the 120,000 square kilometer (46,332 sq mile) search area',

He said suspension of the search does not mean an end to it, but he did acknowledge the likelihood of finding the aircraft is fading'.

'Should credible new information emerge which can be used to identify the specific location of the aircraft, consideration will be given in determining next steps,' he said, reading out from a joint statement.   

It is believed to have turned back and dropped into the Indian Ocean west of Australia, where the search has been concentrated.

Liow said the current search is being hampered by bad weather and damaged equipment, but still it would end by December.  

Investigators at a Dutch company leading the underwater hunt for Malaysia Airlines jet MH370 say they believe the plane may have glided down with a pilot at the controls rather than dived in its final moments.

The latest theory means that search teams admit they many have been scouring the wrong patch of ocean for the past two years looking for the jet.

Flight MH370 disappeared in March 2014 with 239 passengers and crew onboard en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur.

Top searchers at the Dutch company leading the underwater hunt for Malaysia Airlines jet MH370 say they believe the plane may have glided down rather than dived in the final moments, meaning they have been scouring the wrong patch of ocean for two years

Police carry a piece of debris from an unidentified aircraft found in the coastal area of Saint-Andre de la Reunion, in the east of the French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion 

The new theory about the doomed jet comes just days after officials said they would be examining a wing flap found last month on an East African island that is suspected to be from the missing Malaysian airliner. 

The theory would mean that search teams would have been scouring the wrong patch of ocean for the past two years looking for the jet. 

The new theory about the doomed jet came just days after officials said they would be examining a wing flap found last month on an East African island that is suspected to be from the missing Malaysian airliner.

However, it is not believed that the discovery sparked the latest theory as Australian analysts were only given the debris to examine on Monday, while it is a Dutch team searching the ocean.  

This theory was downplayed by officials today and Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai insisted they believed they were searching in the right place. 

'We do not have any evidence to confirm that it was controlled ditching,' Liow said. 

A Western Australia University oceanographer Charitha Pattiaratchi , who has done extensive drift modeling, said the plane could have crashed slightly north of the current search area.

'The best guess that we think is that it's probably around the Broken Ridge region, which is slightly to the north of the area that they're looking at,' Pattiaratchi said.

Drift modeling was not used to define the search area because no parts of Flight 370 had been found before a wing flap washed up on La Reunion island off the African coast a year ago. The search area was determined by analysis of satellite signals that the plane emitted in its final hours.

But the ATSB has previously said wreckage found on the southwestern shores of the Indian Ocean was consistent with the plane crashing in the expansive search area.

Pattiaratchi's modeling was based on how long the first piece of confirmed Flight 370 wreckage took to reach La Reunion, an island where confirmed plane debris was found, and his team's calculations of the effects of currents, wind and waves on drifting debris put the crash site just north of the current search area.

The families of passengers who went missing on MH370 hold up signs demanding to know what has happened to their loved ones 

Representatives from Voice 370, a group representing family members of the plane's 239 passengers and crew, met with Australian officials in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday and urged the governments to suspend the search until new funds can be raised.

They also called for a wider base of funding, including from Boeing and other plane and component manufacturers.

The three governments are involved because the airline was Malaysian, most of the passengers were Chinese, and the suspected crash site is off southwestern Australia.