THE search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 cannot go on forever, Australia’s deputy prime minister said yesterday, and discussions are already under way between Australia, China and Malaysia as to whether to call off the hunt within weeks.

    No trace has been found of the Boeing 777 aircraft, which disappeared a year ago carrying 239 passengers and crew, in what has become one of the greatest mysteries in aviation history.

    The search of a rugged 60,000- square-kilometer patch of sea floor some 1,600 kilometers west of the Australian city of Perth, which experts believe is the plane’s most likely resting place, will likely be finished by May.

    Australian Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss said that a decision would have to be taken well before then as to whether to continue into the vast 1.1-million- square-kilometer area around the primary search zone if nothing has been found.

    Discussions had already begun about what to do in that event, including the possibility that the search might be called off, said Truss, who is also transport minister.

    Meanwhile, Australia, Indonesia and Malaysia are launching a trial to allow air traffic controllers to more closely track aircraft traversing remote oceans such as the one believed to be the final resting place of MH370.

    Under the system being tested, long-haul aircraft would effectively be required to check in every 15 minutes, rather than every 30 to 40 minutes, which is the current norm. Long-haul flights in an area covering roughly 11 percent of the world’s surface will take part in the test.

    There was no further detail immediately available about what flights or routes the trial would cover.

    (SD-Agencies)