Kathmandu: The Malaysian government has announced its decision in principle to restart the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which vanished in March 2014 in one of aviation’s most enduring mysteries.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke said on Friday that the cabinet has approved a $70 million agreement with the U.S.-based marine exploration firm Ocean Infinity to locate the missing Boeing 777. The “no find, no fee” deal ensures Ocean Infinity will only be paid if the wreckage is discovered.
The new search is set to target a 15,000 sq km area in the southern Indian Ocean. Negotiations on the final terms of the agreement are expected to be completed early next year.
“We hope this time will be positive,” Loke said, expressing hope that finding the aircraft’s wreckage would bring closure to the families of the 239 people on board.
The latest initiative follows a 2018 search by Ocean Infinity, also conducted under “no find, no fee” terms, which ended without success after three months. A prior multinational search effort, which cost $150 million, was called off in 2017 after two years of scouring the ocean.
Flight MH370 disappeared while en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur, losing communication with air traffic control less than an hour after takeoff. Radar data revealed it deviated significantly from its planned route.
While investigators believe the plane crashed in the southern Indian Ocean, the reasons remain unclear. Pieces of debris suspected to be from the aircraft have washed ashore on Indian Ocean coastlines over the years.
A 2018 investigation concluded that the plane’s controls were likely deliberately manipulated to veer it off course, but did not determine who was responsible. Investigators noted that definitive answers could only come from locating the wreckage.
The mystery has fueled numerous conspiracy theories, ranging from claims of pilot sabotage to speculations of a military shootdown. The tragedy continues to haunt hundreds of families, who remain without answers nearly a decade later.
The next phase of the search aims to solve one of modern aviation’s most confounding enigmas.
Source: BBC