Lack of resolution on fate of 239 victims causes agony for families

After nearly three years, the hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 ended in futility and frustration on Tuesday, as crews completed their deep-sea search of a desolate stretch of the Indian Ocean without finding a trace of the plane.

The Joint Agency Coordination Center in Australia, which helped lead the $160 million hunt for the Boeing 777 in remote waters west of Australia, said the search had officially been suspended after crews finished their fruitless sweep of the 120,000-square-kilometer search zone.

"Despite every effort using the best science available, cutting-edge technology, as well as modeling and advice from highly skilled professionals who are the best in their field, unfortunately, the search has not been able to locate the aircraft," the agency said in a statement, which was a joint communique between the transport ministers of Malaysia, Australia and China.

Last year, the three countries - which have each helped fund the search - agreed that the hunt would be suspended once the search zone was exhausted unless new evidence emerged that pinpoints the plane's specific location. Since no technology exists that can tell investigators exactly where the plane is, that effectively means the most expensive, complex search in aviation history is over.

There is also the bleak possibility that the world's greatest aviation mystery may never be solved.

For the families of the 239 people on the doomed aircraft, that's a particularly bitter prospect given the recent acknowledgment by officials that they had been looking for the plane in the wrong place all along.

In December, the transport bureau announced that a review of the data used to estimate where the plane crashed, coupled with new information on ocean currents, strongly suggested the plane hit the water in a 25,000 sq km area directly north of the search zone.

But Australia's government rejected a recommendation from the bureau that crews be allowed to search the new area to the north, saying the results of the experts' analysis weren't precise enough to justify continuing the hunt.

The three countries' transport ministers reiterated that view in their statement on Tuesday as they praised the efforts of the search crews and said the search had presented an "unprecedented challenge".

"Today's announcement is significant for our three countries, but more importantly for the family and friends of those on board the aircraft. We again take this opportunity to honor the memory of those who have lost their lives and acknowledge the enormous loss felt by their loved ones," the ministers wrote.

But the lack of resolution has caused agony for family members of the flight's passengers, who have begged officials to continue the hunt for their loved ones.

"The whole series of events since the plane disappeared has been nothing but frustrating," said Grace Nathan, a Malaysian whose mother was on board Flight 370. "It continues to be frustrating and we just hope they will continue to search ... They've already searched 120,000 square kilometers. What is another 25,000?"