IPOH (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - The Malaysian Transport Ministry will accept whatever decision made by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) on the search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, after the ATSB said the search will be called off in July unless significant lead arises.

Deputy Transport Minister Ab Aziz Kaprawi told reporters on Wednesday (May 18) that provided the search has been completed on the 120,000sq km area, they will accept the decision.

"If we have done the search in the mentioned area, we will accept Australia's decision who have led this search... The Malaysian government will accept the decision."

On Tuesday, the Australian Broadcast Corporation (ABC) reported ATSB chief Martin Dolan, who is leading the search, as saying that the government had commissioned a search comprising 120,000 sq km, with about 15,000 sq km left to cover.

He said at this stage, he was optimistic that they will find the aircraft in a defined search area.

"We are at a point of the search where we have to contemplate the possibility that we won't find it."

ABC reported that the search had so far failed to trace any parts of the plane that disappeared in 2014 when it was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Australia is leading the search for MH370 in the remote Indian Ocean, where the Kuala Lumpur-Beijing flight is believed to have diverted when it disappeared on March 8, 2014, carrying 239 passengers and crew.

The governments of Australia, China and Malaysia have said they will end the hunt when the target area is fully searched unless new, credible information emerges.