Tropical cyclone halts air search for Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370

A tropical cyclone heading south over the Indian Ocean caused the air search for the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 to be suspended on Tuesday, as a US submarine drone neared the end of its undersea search without finding any sign of wreckage.

The daily air and sea sorties have continued for a week since Australian authorities said they would complete that component of the search for the jet aircraft, which disappeared on March 8 with 239 people on board.

But on Tuesday, hours after authorities said up to 10 military aircraft and 10 ships would join the day’s search, they said the air search had been suspended because of poor weather as a result of Tropical Cyclone Jack.

“It has been determined that the current weather conditions are resulting in heavy seas and poor visibility, and would make any air search activities ineffective and potentially hazardous,” the Joint Agency Co-ordination Centre said in a statement.

The ships involved in the day’s search about 1,600 kilometres northwest of the Australian city of Perth would continue with their planned activities, the centre added.

The setback occurred as the US$4 million US Navy unmanned submarine Bluefin-21 was scheduled to complete its mission with search officials confirming the device had yet to find any sign of wreckage from the flight.