Malaysia will hand out cash rewards to private parties that are able to locate the main wreckage of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, the country's deputy transport minister said on Thursday.

After the Malaysian, Australian and Chinese governments called off the official search, any private body with relevant expertise in locating the plane was encouraged to come forward, said deputy transport minister Abdul Aziz Kaprawi.

"We are opening up the options because the government of Malaysia is committed to continue the search," Kaprawi said 

"There will be cash rewards in the millions [of Malaysian ringgits] for those who are able to find substantial information or evidence like the fuselage," he added.

The deputy minister also urged experts from various relevant industries like the oil and gas sector, mining and those in maritime and defence industries to try to search for the wreckage. 

MH370 went missing on March 8, 2014, during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board, including the crew.

Malaysia, Australia and China on Tuesday announced that the search in 120,000 square km of the southern Indian Ocean for the missing plane was suspended until there was new evidence.
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