B1.9bn spent on MH370 search. KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has spent 231.45 million ringgit (1.92 billion baht) so far on the search for flight MH370, which disappeared more than a year ago, a senior official said yesterday. Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai told parliament the amount was calculated at the end of October. He said the full cost of the search which also involves Australia and China. was not known. Beijing-bound flight MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2014, after it took off from Kuala Lumpur. Mr Liow also told parliament that Malaysia Airlines has so far paid partial compensation to 74 relatives of people aboard MH370 as well as 236 relatives of passengers on flight MH17, which crashed in eastern Ukraine in July last year after it was shot down by a missile. dpa