The Malaysian government has officially approved a renewed search for the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, more than a decade after the aircraft's mysterious disappearance in 2014. The search will target a 15,000 square kilometer area in the southern Indian Ocean as part of a "no find, no fee" agreement with exploration firm Ocean Infinity. This agreement stipulates that Ocean Infinity will receive $70 million (£56 million) if they locate the wreckage.
Flight MH370 vanished while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 individuals on board, leaving one of aviation's greatest enigmas still unresolved. In the years since the plane's disappearance, multiple exhaustive search attempts have been made, yet no debris has been definitively attributed to the aircraft. The prior extensive multinational search concluded in 2017, costing around $150 million (£120 million) without yielding results.
The three governments involved—Malaysia, Australia, and China—outlined that this search would only resume if credible new evidence emerged to pinpoint the aircraft's location. A previous search executed by Ocean Infinity in 2018, under similar conditions, was also unsuccessful after three months of operation. Despite the lack of discoveries, discussions regarding the revival of the search gained momentum, and preliminary approval was reached in December. Official negotiations dragged on until March, but final confirmation was only issued last Wednesday.
Transport Minister Loke Siew Fook emphasized the government's commitment to the search operation, stating, "This is to help provide closure for the families of MH370’s passengers." Flight MH370 took off in the early hours of March 8, 2014, but less than an hour later, it lost communication with air traffic control and was seen deviating from its planned path. While it's broadly accepted that the aircraft crashed into the southern Indian Ocean, the reasons behind this tragedy remain unknown. Debris believed to belong to MH370 has washed up on various shores in the intervening years.
The disappearance of the aircraft has spawned numerous conspiracy theories, some suggesting pilot intervention and others alleging military involvement. An investigation in 2018 suggested that the plane's controls had been altered intentionally, but the true rationale behind this remains elusive. Investigators noted then that a definitive answer could only be achieved if the wreckage were to be discovered.
The announcement of this new search has brought mixed sentiments among the families of those lost; some view it as a positive step toward closure, while others feel a bittersweet sense of hope.
