Malaysia to release interim report on MH370 on March 7

Bai Jie, daughter of Hou Aiqin, a passenger on missing Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370, reads some cards that were made by more than 40 people from Taiwan to give their wishes to those on the missing airline. Photo by ZHU XINGXIN / CHINA DAILY

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia's Department of Civil Aviation will release an interim report on the investigation into the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 on March 7, a day before the one-year anniversary of the disappearance, deputy transport minister Aziz Kaprawi said on Wednesday.

"It will have details on the technical investigation," Aziz said.

This is to abide by a requirement from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for Malaysia to release an interim report on the anniversary of the incident, said Aziz.

The flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing carrying 239 passengers and crew went missing on March 8.

The findings of an international investigation team set up in April 2014 will also be included in the report.

The international team consists of the US National Transport Safety Board, Britain's Air Accidents Investigations Branch, China's Aircraft Accident Investigation Department, France's Land Transport Accident Investigation Bureau, the Australia Transport Safety Bureau, aircraft manufacturer Boeing and British satellite communications company Inmarsat .

The airline's crisis worsened on July 17 when another jet, Flight MH17, was shot down over Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board.

Rounding out a bad year for Southeast Asian carriers, an AirAsia flight from Indonesia's second-biggest city of Surabaya to Singapore crashed in December, killing all 162 people on board.