PUTRAJAYA -- The underwater search for the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is expected to be completed by May, an official of Malaysian Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) said in a technical briefing Friday.

DCA Flight Operations Assistance Director Capt. Mior Nor Badrishah Mohamad said that the weather condition will be very challenging for the search after May, as the waves could be very big in the region.

He said that 18,623.26 sq km or 31.04 percent of the 60,000 sq km underwater search area had been searched so far.

Mior said that the current search area in the hunt for the MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean is the right place.

The searchers are confident that the aircraft is in the search area, Mior said, adding that if they cannot find the plane there, they need to sit down again and discuss about the best way forward with all the available data.

Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, a Boeing 777 aircraft with 239 people on board, disappeared on March 8 last year shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur en-route to Beijing.