KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 23): Two American lawyers representing the families of MH370 passengers have expressed disappointed over the decision by the Malaysian, Chinese and Australian government to suspend the search for the missing aircraft.

Steve Marks and Roy Altman, practising in Miami, said in a joint statement with Malaysian lawyer Tommy Thomas today that international obligations require the Malaysian government to continue its search for the Malaysia Airlines plane.

"They do not allow the Malaysian government to unilaterally discontinue that search on the grounds that the search has become expensive — an excuse the Malaysian government has used trying to justify its decision," they said.

Finding the plane is a necessary step to obtain an exact understanding why it went missing, and would also indirectly provide the families of MH370's victims with the closure that they seek and deserve, the lawyers said.

"We would be remiss if we did not note that the Malaysian government's decision will have ramifications for the worldwide community of air travellers, who rely upon air safety investigators and regulators to learn from the mistakes of the past in a concerted, solemn effort to make air travel safe for everyone," they said.

The Boeing 777, with 239 passengers and crew on board, disappeared on March 8, 2014 while en route to Beijing from the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur. Based to the flight manifest, 152 passengers were Chinese, 50 Malaysian, seven Indonesian, six Australian, five Indian, four French and three were American.

Reuters reported that relatives of the victims plan to deliver personal letters to Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai during his current visit to Australia, urging him to resume the search for the missing jet.

Liow held informal talks with Australian Transport Minister Darren Chester in Perth yesterday, Chester's office said, five days after the two ministers and their Chinese counterpart suspended the three-year hunt for the plane.

A total of 33 pieces of wreckage suspected to be from the plane have been found, including parts of wings and a tail, on the shores of Mauritius, the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion, Mozambique, Tanzania and South Africa.

Marks and Altman represented families of MH370 passengers in litigation across the world and worked with Thomas in Kuala Lumpur with regard to the civil suit filed at the High Court of Malaya in which 76 plaintiffs sued on behalf of 32 passengers.

The High Court, however, refused permission to the two American lawyers to appear as counsel in the suits against Malaysia Airlines and the government.