Malaysia approves a new search for MH370 more than a decade after the
plane disappeared
[March 20, 2025]
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia
(AP) — Malaysia’s government has given final approval for a Texas-based
marine robotics company to renew the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight
370, which is believed to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean more
than a decade ago. |
Jiang Hui, whose mother was on the missing MH370 Malaysia Airline
passenger jet, wears a shirt "Remembering 239 Lives, MH370" checks his
phone after talking to media on the 11th anniversary of the jet going
missing Saturday, March 8, 2025, in Beijing, China. (AP Photo/Ng Han
Guan) |
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Cabinet ministers agreed to terms and conditions for a “no-find,
no-fee” contract with Texas-based Ocean Infinity to resume the
seabed search operation at a new 15,000-square-kilometer
(5,800-square-mile) site in the ocean, Transport Minister
Anthony Loke said in a statement Wednesday. Ocean Infinity will
be paid $70 million only if wreckage is discovered.
The Boeing 777 plane vanished from radar shortly after taking
off on March 8, 2014, carrying 239 people, mostly Chinese
nationals, on a flight from Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, to
Beijing. Satellite data showed the plane turned from its flight
path and headed south to the far-southern Indian Ocean, where it
is believed to have crashed.
An expensive multinational search failed to turn up any clues to
its location, although debris washed ashore on the east African
coast and Indian Ocean islands. A private search in 2018 by
Ocean Infinity also found nothing.
The final approval for a new search came three months after
Malaysia gave the nod in principle to plans for a fresh search.
Ocean Infinity CEO Oliver Punkett earlier this year reportedly
said the company had improved its technology since 2018. He has
said the firm is working with many experts to analyze data and
had narrowed the search area to the most likely site.
Loke said his ministry will ink a contract with Ocean Infinity
soon but didn’t provide details on the terms. The firm has
reportedly sent a search vessel to the site and indicated that
January-April is the best period for the search.
“The government is committed to continuing the search operation
and providing closure for the families of the passengers of
flight MH370,” he said in a statement.
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