A woman attends a commemoration event for the ill-fated Flight MH370 in Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur March 6, 2016. Flight MH370, a Boeing 777-200ER, disappeared on March 8, 2014, from Kuala Lumpur en route to Beijing with a total of 239 people on board, most of them Chinese nationals. (Photo/Xinhua)
On the second anniversary of the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, an Australian minister said authorities are still committed to the search and desperately trying to solve the mystery that has baffled the world.
Australia's Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Darren Chester said on Tuesday that although two years have passed since the Boeing 777 went missing en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, Australia has not "forgotten" its responsibility to the victims' loved ones.
Chester said the Australian search effort in the southern Indian Ocean, which investigators have determined as the most likely resting place for the jet, remained the best hope of giving the families closure.
"Finding the aircraft would give answers to the world, in particular the families of missing loved ones, about what happened," Chester said in a press release on Tuesday.
MH370, which disappeared on March 8, 2014, was carrying 239 people, most of whom were Chinese nationals.
"A tragedy such as MH370 touches people from all over the world and today we are united in remembering all 239 people who were on the flight," Chester said.
"We owe it to their memory, and to the loved ones who mourn them, to honor the undertaking to complete the search of the area experts have determined as most likely to contain the missing aircraft."
Chester also gave an update on the state of the search.
"We have completed around 90,000 square kilometers of the 120,000 square kilometer search zone. Our vessels are at sea for a month at a time in the search zone using sonar and underwater technologies to search the ocean floor reaching depths of 6,000 meters," he said on Tuesday.
