Malaysia to Resume MH370 Seabed Search with Ocean Infinity After Seven-Year Hiatus
Malaysia will relaunch efforts to locate the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 later this month, the transport ministry said on Wednesday, announcing a new seabed search with UK-US marine robotics firm Ocean Infinity.
 |
| Image Source: GizimIlisirlar |
This marks the first official resumption of the search since April 2018, when a previous Ocean Infinity-led operation ended without results. Under a “no-find, no-fee” agreement, the company will be compensated only if it locates the wreckage.
The target area spans 15,000 square kilometres in the southern Indian Ocean, where experts believe the aircraft most likely went down.
Flight MH370, a Boeing 777-200, disappeared from radar on 8 March 2014, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. It was carrying 239 people, including 227 passengers and 12 crew.
The disappearance triggered one of the most extensive and costly search operations in aviation history, covering nearly 120,000 sq km of seabed, before being called off in January 2017.
Since then, only a few fragments of debris confirmed to be from MH370 have been recovered, including a flaperon found on Réunion Island in 2015.
No major wreckage or flight recorders have been located, leaving the cause of the aircraft's disappearance unresolved.
Relatives of the missing have welcomed the renewed effort. Danica Weeks, whose husband Paul was onboard, said the announcement brought "relief and hope" after more than a decade without answers.
Beijing and Canberra also expressed support for the search.
Malaysia’s transport ministry said the new initiative reflected its ongoing commitment to provide closure to the families.
The search will resume in the same region identified by satellite and drift modelling analyses as the most probable crash zone.
Ocean Infinity previously led a 2018 seabed search that covered over 112,000 sq km without success. The new campaign will use more advanced unmanned underwater vehicles and updated oceanographic data to improve detection accuracy.
The official Malaysian investigation released in 2018 concluded that the aircraft had been manually turned around mid-flight and that “unlawful interference by a third party” could not be ruled out.
The report, however, found no evidence of pilot suicide or mechanical failure.