By The Straits Times | Created at 2024-12-20 07:45:47 | Updated at 2024-12-20 14:24:22
7 hours ago
KUALA LUMPUR – The Malaysian Cabinet has given the green light for a new attempt to find the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared in 2014 in the southern Indian Ocean.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke announced that US-based private marine exploration company Ocean Infinity has been tasked with resuming the undersea search for the plane’s wreckage within a 15,000 sq km area off the coast of Western Australia.
The Cabinet has agreed in-principle on Dec 13, 2024, to proceed with another search to locate the wreckage of flight MH370, Mr Loke told reporters in Putrajaya on Dec 20.
The Transport Ministry is currently negotiating the terms of the contract with Ocean Infinity that will be finalised in early 2025. The proposal is based on a “no find, no fee” principle, meaning the government will not pay if no wreckage is found.
The latest effort is a show of the government’s commitment to providing closure for the families of MH370 passengers, said Mr Loke.
On March 8, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 took off from Kuala Lumpur en route to Beijing, carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members. But the Boeing 777 plane later vanished and was never seen again.
After the disappearance, Malaysia, China and Australia conducted a joint search for the wreckage of the plane in an 120,000 sq km area in the southern Indian Ocean. But the three countries ended their joint search in Jan 2017 after having no significant findings.
Ocean Infinity’s search effort, which started in January 2018 in a narrowed 25,000 sq km area in the southern Indian Ocean, ended in June 2018 without results.
Mr Loke had earlier informed Malaysia’s Parliament in November 2024 that Kuala Lumpur was considering a credible proposal from Ocean Infinity to resume the search based on a “no find, no fee” principle. This means the government will not pay the marine exploration company if no wreckage is found.
Ocean Infinity is seeking a US$70 million (S$92 million) fee – similar to the fee proposed in 2018 – should the wreckage be found.
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