Flight MH370 Update: Victims' Families Demand New Search As Anniversary Of Plane's Disappearance Approaches

As the three-year anniversary of the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 drew closer this week, friends and families of the would-be victims began ramping up their calls for an extended search for the missing plane. MH370 Families, a collection of relatives of the 239 people who were on board the Boeing 777 when it vanished, recently announced a memorial-slash-protest set for March 4.

The event, with the tagline "Search (On) 3.0: MH370 Is Not History. It's The Future. Fly Safely," was scheduled to take place in Kuala Lumpur.

"We believe that the search for MH370, and for answers to what led to its disappearance, goes beyond the families’ need for a credible explanation and closure," the group wrote on Facebook. "It extends to a larger question of aviation safety, a matter that is relevant to our lives every single day as you, your loved ones, your friends and colleagues take to the skies."

About 200 people have said they're interested in attending the event, which was set to include an art exhibit and speeches from aviation experts.

"Help us to keep the search on," the group said.

MH370 went missing March 8, 2014 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. It's presumed to have crashed, but an exhaustive search of the Indian Ocean turned up no debris. Only amateurs in places like Reunion Island and Mauritius have discovered plane wreckage confirmed to be from the ill-fated flight.

Investigators suspended their formal search for MH370 in January — just a month after a report from the Australian government indicated they may have been looking in the wrong place, CNN reported.

"It's an extraordinary aviation mystery as it stands today," Darren Chester, the Australian minister for infrastructure and transport, said at a recent news conference. "I'm hopeful that we have a breakthrough in the future. We need to prepare ourselves for the sad and tragic reality that in this foreseeable future, we may not find MH370."

At the same press event, Chester said the families of MH370 victims were understanding about the decision to suspend the search until further credible evidence comes forward. But the advocates who are a part of MH370 Families, also known as Voice 370, have urged the authorities to reconsider. They want the search to start back up again — and this time, focus on the new area identified in December.

"Commercial planes cannot just be allowed to disappear without a trace," they wrote in a statement shared by NBC News.