MH370: High-level Chinese group receives tech briefing

KUALA LUMPUR - A high-level Chinese group received technical briefing by the international workgroup on the missing MH370 yesterday.

In a statement by the Ministry of Transport earlier, Chinese foreign affairs vice minister and government special envoy Zhang Yesui received a briefing on why the flight had ended in the southern Indian Ocean.

"The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) and the Aircraft Accident Investigation Department (AAID) were present at yesterday's technical briefing.

"The CAAC and AAID have been, and will continue to be, members of the international working group," it said in a statement earlier.

Meanwhile, the high-level team have met the Chinese relatives on board the missing flight for the fourth time yesterday.

"Over the duration of the three hour meeting, the relatives received a technical briefing and an update on the search operation. The high-level team also answered questions.

"Today, the team met relatives again, at 3.25pm...the meeting is still udnerway," it read.

On the operational update at the Indian Ocean, the planned search area was aborted due to bad weather earlier this morning.

"The area identified by the Malaysian Remote Sensing Agency (MRSA) yesterday - where the 122 potential objects were sighted - was also due to be searched today.

"The planned area of search today was 16,298 square nautical miles in the West sector, and 6,506 square nautical miles in the East sector.

"Operations were suspended at 11.40am after the weather deteriorated in the area of search," the statement read.

The ministry also announced a support team en route to Perth, Australia to help with search operations.

It comprised the Department of Civil Aviation, Malaysia Airlines, Royal Malaysian Navy, and the Royal Malaysian Air Force.