Permanent MH370 memorial to be built in Australia

Canberra, March 9 (IANS) A permanent memorial to honour the 239 people who were on board the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 will be built in Perth, Australia's Transport Minister Darren Chester said.

After attending a remembrance service on Wednesday -- the third anniversary of the disappearance of the Boeing 777 jet, Chester announced the permanent memorial would be built in Perth, the closest major city to where the stricken jetliner is thought to be, somewhere in the Southern Indian Ocean, Xinhua news agency reported.

Chester said that while there was still much "sadness, frustration and disappointment" surrounding the circumstances of the plane's disappearance, he hopes the memorial - to be built as soon as possible - will help families continue to move on with their lives.

"It's a hollow feeling for the families, but it's important we gather and pay our respects," Chester said in comments published on Wednesday night.

"We're still hopeful there may be a breakthrough in weeks or months to come that leads us to the location of MH370."

arlier this year, it was announced that the Australia-led ocean search for the plane would be suspended indefinitely, until fresh new evidence which points to the jet's location is uncovered.

He added that while the ocean search had been suspended, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau was continuing work in the fields of drift modelling and satellite imagery.

"There's been pieces of debris located over the past couple of years, some far more significant than others and they've given investigators more information, but in terms of credible new evidence leading to a location of MH370 we don't have that yet," he said.

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