MH370 search to continue: Malaysian official

The search for the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 that disappeared on March 8 last year will continue, Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai told reporters on Friday.

Liow told a press conference in the Ministry of Transport, "so far, over 26,000 square km of the seafloor, or over 40 percent of the total priority zone, have been searched for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370."

The searching vessels are focusing on a 60,000-square-km priority zone, with the hunt scheduled to end in May.

Questioned on whether there would be no more search when the searching of 60,000 square km end in May, the official said, "it totally depends on the conclusion of the experts including those involved in the investigation of the incident."

He said Malaysia had already spent about 60 million Ringget ( about 18 million U.S. dollars) on the search which is also funded by Australia and supported by China.

He said the weather condition in the South Indian Ocean is at present comparatively good and one more ship from Malaysia is to join the search.

The Malaysia Airlines jet disappeared enroute from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing on March 8, 2014 with 239 people on board. So far no trace has been found despite a massive surface and underwater hunt.

The search is jointly carried out by Australia, Malaysia and China in the Indian Ocean some 1,600 km off Australia's west coast, with four ships using sophisticated sonar systems to scour a huge underwater area.