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Underwater Search For MH370 Could End Within A Week

Australian and Malaysian officials say a drastically narrowed search area could mean the end is near for the MH370 search.

Underwater Search For MH370 Could End Within A Week
Wikimedia Commons / Craig
SMS

Officials said Saturday the current search for wreckage from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 off the coast of Australia could be over fairly soon.

"The ocean floor search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 could take about a week. Government officials say that next few days are critical." ​(Via HLN)

After almost two months of combing the south Indian Ocean for any sign of the missing jet, CNN reports investigators have narrowed the search to a much smaller area — a 6.2 mile circle off the coast of western Australia.

Search crews targeted that specific circle after detecting several underwater signals in the area earlier this month. Officials believe the signal came from Flight 370's black boxes before their batteries died. (Via Sky News)

But are searchers getting close to finding wreckage from the missing plane? Malaysia's transport minister told reporters it's hard to say.

"I appeal to everybody around the world to pray and pray hard that we find something to work on over the next couple of days." ​(Via The Telegraph)

More than two dozen countries around the world have lent a hand to the search ever since the plane disappeared during a March 8 flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. (Via Euronews)

But weeks of thorough searches have failed to turn up anything of importance. This is now the most expensive search in aviation history, as The Sydney Morning Herald points out.

Officials insist the search will go on even if they can't find any trace of the jet in the next few days. According to CNN, this could involve using different devices in the same search area or expanding the search area all together.