Senior officials from Malaysia, Australia and China met on Thursday for the MH370 Third Tripartite Ministerial Meeting, agreeing that the search zone will be doubled if the missing Malaysian aircraft is not found in the current search area of 60,000 square kilometers.

The officials were given a detailed briefing on the search efforts in the current priority area by the Australian side and reached a deal on the search work in the future.

They agreed that if the wreckage is found in the current area, the recovery work will be organized. Should the aircraft not be found within the current area, the search will be extended by an additional 60,000 square kilometers in the north of the current area identified by the experts.

The Chinese side said that it will make arrangements for the future search work along with Malaysia and Australia, try to locate the aircraft as soon as possible and give an explanation to the families of those aboard the flight.

Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai chaired the meeting with Australian Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss and Chinese Transport Minister Yang Chuantang.

The three parties extended appreciation to the international community and related countries for their contribution to the search efforts for MH370 in the past year, saying that the governments of Malaysia, Australia and China have made effective cooperation in the areas of search, investigation and family support.

Flight MH370 went missing on March 8 last year en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.

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