Malaysia agrees to resume the search for the missing passenger plane

The Malaysian government said it had agreed in principle to resume the search for a passenger plane that disappeared 10 years ago in one of aviation’s biggest mysteries.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disappeared in March 2014 while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.

Efforts to locate the wreckage of the Boeing 777 have faltered over the years, and the tragedy continues to haunt hundreds of families of those on board.

Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke said on Friday that the Cabinet had approved in principle a $70 million deal with US-based offshore exploration company Ocean Infinity to find the plane.

Under a “no wreck, no fee” arrangement, Ocean Infinity will only be paid when the wreck is found.

A 2018 search by Ocean Infinity under similar terms ended unsuccessfully after three months.

A multinational effort costing $150 million ended in 2017 after two years of searching vast waters.

While the government has accepted “in principle” Ocean Infinity’s offer, Locke said negotiations on the specific terms of the deal are still ongoing and will be finalized early next year.

The minister said the new research would cover an area of ​​15,000 square kilometers in the southern Indian Ocean, based on new data that Kuala Lumpur found to be “credible.”

“We hope this time will be positive,” Luke said, adding that finding the wreckage will give the families of those on board the plane an opportunity to communicate.

Relatives of passengers on board MH370 welcomed the Malaysian government’s approval to conduct new research.

“I’m very happy with this news… I feel like it’s the best birthday present ever,” Jacqueta Gonzalez, wife of MH370 supervisor Patrick Gomez, told the New Straits Times.

Intan Maizora Othman also told the newspapers: “This announcement brings up mixed emotions – hope, gratitude and sadness. After almost 11 years, the uncertainty and pain of not getting answers has been very difficult for us.” Her husband, Muhammad Hadrin Muhammad Hassan, was a member of the plane’s crew.

Jiang Hui, whose mother was on the plane, told Reuters news agency that the Malaysian government should have a “more open approach” to the search to allow more players to participate.

In a statement, Ocean Infinity CEO Oliver Plunkett said the Malaysian government’s decision was “fantastic news”, adding: “We look forward to sharing further updates in the new year once the details are finalized and the team is ready to launch.”

Flight MH370 took off from Kuala Lumpur in the early hours of 8 March 2014. It lost contact with air traffic control less than an hour after take-off and radar showed it had deviated from the planned flight path.

Investigators generally agree that the plane crashed somewhere in the southern Indian Ocean, although it is unclear why this happened.

Pieces of debris, believed to be from the plane, were found on the beaches of the Indian Ocean in the years following its disappearance.

A range of conspiracy theories have emerged about the plane’s disappearance, ranging from speculation that the pilot intentionally shot down the plane to claims that it was shot down by a foreign military.

A 2018 investigation into the plane’s disappearance concluded that the plane’s controls had likely been deliberately manipulated to throw it off course, but did not reach any conclusions about who was behind it.

Investigators said at the time that “the answer can only be conclusive if the wreckage is found.”