New Search Reignites Hope for Finding Missing Flight MH370
The search for the Malaysia Airlines flight that vanished in March 2014 is set to begin again.
Malaysia’s government said it had reached a deal with a U.S. company, Ocean Infinity, which will be paid $70 million only if it recovers a significant portion of flight MH370’s wreckage, according to the Associated Press.
“The proposed new search area, identified by Ocean Infinity, is based on the latest information and data analyses conducted by experts and researchers,” the country’s transport minister, Anthony Loke, said in a statement, the AP reported. “The company’s proposal is credible.”
The Boeing 777 disappeared from radar shortly after it took off to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur, carrying 239 people onboard, all of whom are presumed dead. Satellite data has indicated it was over the southern Indian Ocean when it went down.
The cause of the flight’s disappearance, which has spawned numerous theories, is widely regarded as one of the most significant unsolved aviation mysteries of all time.
A previous three-month search by Ocean Infinity, in 2018, failed to turn up the plane’s wreckage, as did the original international search. Some debris confirmed to be from MH370 has washed up on Indian Ocean beaches.
The Texas-based company’s chief executive, Oliver Plunkett, said earlier this year that its technology had improved since its first attempt at locating the wreckage, the AP reported.
Malaysia is set to finalize its negotiations with Ocean Infinity in early 2025, as the firm has suggested that January to April would be the ideal search window, the AP reported.
“This decision reflects the government’s commitment to continuing the search operation and providing closure for the families of MH370 passengers,” Loke said.
