DHAKA: Malaysia will release on Thursday a preliminary report on its investigations into how Flight MH370 disappeared.

Malaysia acting transport minister Hishammuddin Hussein announced on Wednesday, reports The Straits Times.

Search continues for the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 jet with 239 people aboard which vanished on March 8 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. It is believed to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean, where an Australian-led effort is underway to recover its flight data and cockpit voice recorders.

Malaysia prime minister Najib Tun Razak had announced in a TV interview on April 24 that Malaysia was committed to releasing the report which was being scrutinised by an internal investigation team of experts.

Malaysian officials say the report has already been sent to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), which requires countries to submit within 30 days a factual rundown of whatever is known about any air crash.

Speaking to reporters in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, Hishammuddin said Malaysia also would announce the details next week on how to share the cost of search operations between the various nations which have deployed military planes, ships, specialised equipment and other assets.

He had said last week that the preliminary findings contained ‘early data’ and ‘nothing exciting’.

BDST: 1559 HRS, APR 30, 2014