Malaysia’s government gave final approval for a Texas-based company to resume the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 more than a decade after the airplane’s disappearance.
Terms and conditions of a “no-find, no fee” contract have been agreed upon with Ocean Infinity to launch a seabed search operation at a new 5,800-square-mile site, according to Transport Minister Anthony Loke. The company will be paid $70 million only if wreckage is discovered.
“The government is committed to continuing the search operation and providing closure for the families of the passengers of flight MH370,” Loke said in a statement.
The 2014 disappearance remains one of the most vexing mysteries in aviation. The Boeing 777 took off from Kuala Lumpur headed to Beijing on March 8, 2014, and disappeared around 90 seconds after leaving Malaysian airspace with all 239 of its passengers seemingly gone without a trace. 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.
NEW CLUES 10 YEARS AFTER THE DISAPPEARANCE OF MH370
Ocean Infinity declined comment when reached by Fox News Digital Thursday morning. It told Fox News last year that it hoped “to narrow the search area down to one in which success becomes potentially achievable.”
An expensive multinational search failed to turn up any clues to MH370’s 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, although CEO Oliver Punkett earlier this year reportedly said the company had improved its technology since then.
NEW THEORY ON THE VANISHED MALAYSIA AIRLINES FLIGHT
Loke said his ministry will ink a contract with Ocean Infinity soon but didn’t provide details on the terms. The firm reportedly sent a search vessel to the site and indicated in December that January-April is the best period for the search.
“While the next of kin of the passengers and crew on board attempt to rebuild our lives, the threat to global aviation safety remains a live issue,” Voice370, a group of relatives of passengers from MH370, previously said in a statement.
“As long as we remain in the dark about what happened to MH370, we will never be able to prevent a similar tragedy. Accordingly, we believe that it is a matter of paramount importance that the search for MH370 is carried out to its completion.”
Fox News’ Greg Palkot, Peter Aitken and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
