China today asked the international probe team to continue its search of the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 which disappeared two years ago with 239 people on board over the Indian Ocean in the world's biggest aviation mystery.
The call came after a statement issued by an independent international Air Accident Investigation Team yesterday on the second anniversary of the tragedy, which said MH370 wreckage has still not been found despite a continuing search in the South Indian Ocean where the flight had presumably crashed.
"The Chinese side has noticed the interim statement issued by the team, and hopes the team can continue investigation to find the cause of the incident and give a responsible explanation to the families of those on board," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said at a press briefing here.
MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2014 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board mostly Chinese nationals.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak yesterday said in a statement that Malaysia remains hopeful the plane can be found in the search area.
Malaysia, Australia and China will hold a tripartite meeting to determine the next step if the current search fails to find the plane, Najib said.
Hong spoke positively of the search efforts and investigation conducted by the three nations as well as their close communication and coordination. He said the deep water search led by Australia is still in progress.
The Chinese government also sent a ship to the Southern Indian Ocean to join the search efforts in January.
China will continue to keep close communication and cooperation with countries on the search efforts, he said.
