The families of passengers aboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 say they will travel to Madagascar next month to search for clues to what happened to the missing plane.

Investigators have identified six pieces of wreckage to have either definitely or almost certainly come from the jet, which vanished with 239 people on board.

Voice 370, a family association, said the debris collected so far had all been found off Africa’s east coast.

“Despite these hugely important finds, there has been no systematic, organised search by any responsible party,” it said in a statement.

“This leaves the (next-of-kin) no other choice except to take it upon ourselves to do something to find answers and closure.”

Grace Subathirai Nathan, whose mother Anne Daisy was on the flight, said the group were financing the December 3-11 trip from their own pockets.

“We hope to mobilise the fishing villagers and coastal population to be on the constant lookout for new debris that could become new credible evidence,” she said.

Voice 370 said the team would search along high potential sites based on drift modelling, largely focusing in areas on and around Ile Saint Marie.

The plane’s disappearance on March 8, 2014 sparked one of the greatest mysteries in aviation history.

Sweep of search area likely to end next month

So far, none of the six pieces of debris has helped narrow down the precise location of the main underwater wreckage.

Debris has been found as far as Mozambique, yet has done little to help pinpoint the location of the wreckage. Photo: Aircrash Support Group Australia

Investigators need to find that in order to locate the flight data recorders that could help explain why the plane veered so far off course.

Search crews are expected to finish their sweep of the 120,000-square kilometre search zone in the Indian Ocean next month. 

Oceanographers have been analysing wing flaps found in Tanzania and on the French island of La Reunion to see if they might be able to identify a potential new search area through drift modelling.

Malaysia, Australia and China said in July that the $160-million hunt would be suspended once the current stretch of ocean is exhausted unless new evidence emerges that would pinpoint a specific location of the aircraft.