The ship involved in the recently halted hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has returned to port in western Australia for the final time.
Officials from Malaysia, Australia and China gathered in Perth on Monday to thank the crew of the Fugro Equator.
The officials defended their decision to call off the search despite recommendations from investigators that it continue.
The three countries officially suspended the nearly three-year search for the plane in the Indian Ocean last week.
Several relatives of the 239 people on board the plane have asked officials to search a new 25,000-square kilometer area immediately to the north of the old search zone that a group of international investigators recently identified as the likeliest resting place for the wreckage.
According to media reports, the head of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said there is a possibility missing the plane is north of the area where investigators have called off the search.
The jet disappeared in March 2014 en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur, with 239 people on board, sparking one of the world’s great aviation mysteries.
A joint search mission by Australia, Malaysia and Australia was suspended indefinitely six days ago with little hard evidence of the aircraft’s whereabouts.
ATSB chief commissioner Greg Hood said in Perth that experts have a fair idea where the Boeing 777’s wreckage might be located, despite ending the search.
“It is highly likely that the area now defined by the experts contains the aircraft, but that’s not absolutely for certain,” Hood said, according to Australian Broadcasting Corp.
Asked by reporters why authorities would not expand the search if experts thought they knew where the plane was located, Hood said, “That is a question for governments.”
The ATSB recently reported that the Boeing 777 could be within an area of 25,000 sq km to the north of the 120,000-sq-km official underwater search zone in the southern Indian Ocean.
Malaysia, Australia and China agreed in July to suspend the $145-million search if the plane was not found, or if new evidence that might offer a clue as to its whereabouts was not uncovered, once that area had been checked.
Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said “more credible evidence” was needed before moving to the next search area, Australian Associated Press said.
Liow on Monday met a group representing families of the missing passengers in Perth, the West Australian state capital.
Sheryl Keen, from Aircrash Support Group Australia, which represents Australian victims, handed about 100 letters to Liow at what she said was a “positive meeting,” adding that he showed interest in continuing investigations.
About 25 pieces of debris have been collected from Africa’s east coast and more was expected to wash ashore, Liow said.
Three pieces have been confirmed as definitely being from MH370, five are considered “most certainly” to be from the plane and the rest are still being evaluated, he added.

Source: Arab News