'Back to drawing board' if search fails: Malaysia

Malaysia's transport minister said yesterday the hunt for MH370 would be sent "back to the drawing board" if the search now under way comes up empty, but insisted his government remained committed to finding the plane.

Liow Tiong Lai's comments, made on the eve of the tragedy's anniversary, echoed recent remarks by Australian officials who have suggested the expensive search effort in a 60,000-square-kilometre area of the southern Indian Ocean could be abandoned.

"If the search does not yield anything by May or after we have completed the 60,000-square-kilometre search, then we have to go back to the drawing board," Liow told AFP in an interview.

He said that would mean re-examining all available data that was used to determine the suspected crash zone for the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777, but would not specify what could happen next.

But he added: "I would like to say to the next of kin that we will continue to be committed to the search."

Today's anniversary looms as a painful milestone for relatives of the 239 passengers and crew aboard the plane -- which inexplicably diverted from its Kuala Lumpur-Beijing route shortly after takeoff last March 8 -- many of whom are deeply unhappy with the lack of progress.