Malaysia government on May 1 released its preliminary report on Flight MH 370, marking the most extensive release of information on the missing airliner to date.

The five-page document, which was submitted earlier to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), is mostly a recap of information that has already been released over time, along with audio recordings of verbal exchanges between the cockpit of the jet and air traffic controllers, and documents pertaining to the cargo manifest.

An international committee that is responsible for investigating, appraising and identifying the true cause of the incident, is expected to begin operations this week so as to prevent other planes going missing in future, according to the government.

Also on May 1, Malaysia Airlines announced that it will stop covering accommodation costs for relatives of the missing passengers from May 7.

It pledged to provide them with the latest information about the plane as soon as possible, and open information support centres in Beijing and Kuala Lumpur.

Based on satellite data and MH 370’s fuel reserves, experts believe that it is plunged into the southern section of Indian Ocean off the coast of western Australia, where a massive search air, sea and underwater search has yet to yield any evidence of the aircraft.

The MH 370, which had 239 passengers and crew on board, disappeared off civilian radars on March 8 while on a scheduled flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.-VNA