Search for missing flight MH370 to resume this month, Malaysia says
Flight MH370, a Boeing 777, was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew when it vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in 2014.
Families of passengers from both China and Malaysia - who were aboard the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 - are seen during a remembrance event commemorating the 10th anniversary of its disappearance, in Subang Jaya, Malaysia on Mar 3, 2024. (File photo: Reuters/Hasnoor Hussain)
KUALA LUMPUR: The search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 will resume on Dec 30, Malaysia's transport ministry said on Wednesday (Dec 3), more than a decade after the Beijing-bound flight disappeared in one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries.
Flight MH370, a Boeing 777, was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew when it vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in 2014.
Two-thirds of the passengers were Chinese, while the others included Malaysians, Indonesians and Australians, as well as Indian, American, Dutch and French nationals.
Despite the largest search in aviation history, the plane has not been found.
Ocean Infinity confirmed it will recommence seabed search operations for 55 days, to be conducted intermittently, Malaysia's transport ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
The search will be carried out in targeted areas "assessed to have the highest probability" of being where the aircraft is located, the ministry added.
No precise location of the search area has been given.
Malaysian investigators initially did not rule out the possibility that the aircraft had been deliberately taken off course. Debris, some confirmed and some believed to be from the aircraft, has washed up along the coast of Africa and on islands in the Indian Ocean.
The resumed search will be in accordance with the terms and conditions agreed upon between the government and Ocean Infinity for restarting the MH370 wreckage search, the ministry said.
Malaysia will pay the firm US$70 million if substantive wreckage is found during the search on the seabed of an area in the southern Indian Ocean covering 15,000 sq km
The most recent search in the southern Indian Ocean in April this year was suspended due to poor weather conditions.
It was conducted on the same "no find, no fee" principle as Ocean Infinity's previous search, with the government paying out only if the firm finds the aircraft.
Ocean Infinity, based in Britain and the United States, led an unsuccessful hunt in 2018, before agreeing to launch a new search this year.
An initial Australia-led search covered 120,000 sq km in the Indian Ocean over three years, but found hardly any trace of the plane other than a few pieces of debris.
A 495-page report into the disappearance in 2018 said the Boeing 777's controls were likely deliberately manipulated to go off course, but investigators could not determine who was responsible and stopped short of offering a conclusion on what happened, saying that depended on finding the wreckage.
Investigators have said there was nothing suspicious in the background, financial affairs, training and mental health of both the captain and co-pilot.
Malaysia's transport ministry added that "the latest development underscores the government of Malaysia's commitment (to) providing closure to the families affected by this tragedy".
Relatives of the victims had voiced hope in February that a new search could finally bring some answers.
