Malaysia will restart the search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 later this month, nearly 12 years after the aircraft vanished on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.
The Ministry of Transport confirmed that deep-sea exploration company Ocean Infinity will launch a new operation on December 30, focusing on a 15,000-sq-km area of the southern Indian Ocean identified as the most promising location for the wreckage. The mission will be conducted under a “no-find, no-fee” arrangement, with the company set to earn $70 million only if significant debris is discovered.
The Boeing 777-200ER registered 9M-MRO disappeared from radar on March 8, 2014, triggering one of the largest and most complex searches in aviation history. An earlier Australia-led operation surveyed 120,000 sq km of seabed with no definitive results, though a number of suspected debris fragments later washed up on shores in East Africa and the western Indian Ocean.
Ocean Infinity previously mounted an unsuccessful search in 2018 and resumed efforts earlier this year, but poor weather forced the mission to halt in April.
Malaysia says the renewed push reflects its ongoing commitment to provide answers to the families of the passengers and crew. Despite years of analysis and a 495-page investigation report, the cause of the aircraft’s disappearance remains unresolved.
