'Search for MH370 will continue if new evidence found'

The Australian Goverment is willing to continue the search for the vanished Malaysia Airlines MH370 if new evidence is found, says its High Commissioner to Malaysia, Rod Smith.

He said his government was very concerned over the incident and always had an open mind on the matter.

He was met at a luncheon hosted by Crown Prince of Perlis, Tuanku Syed Faizuddin Putra Jamalullail at the Balckwood Restaurant here today.

Smith was asked to comment on a group, 'Voice370' comprising the families of passengers and crew of the vanished aircraft, which wanted the governments of Australia, China and Malaysia to reconsider their decision to cease the search for the Boeing aircraft.

Earlier, the high commissioner gave a talk entitled: 'Australia and Malaysia: 60 Years of Partnership and Beyond' at the University of Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP) in Pauh Putra, Arau.

The Malaysian, Australian and Chinese goverments recently announced a halt to search for the aircraft which went missing on March 8, 2014, while enroute to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur.

"We (Australian Goverment) are sad but have no choice...only if there is new evidence and the location (of the missing MH370) is precise, we will use the latest technology to locate the aircraft," said Smith.

Smith said the Australian and Malaysian governments had very good and strong relations during the search operations which covered an area of 120,000 sq km in the southern Indian Ocean. -- BERNAMA