The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 will resume on December 30, the country’s transport ministry announced on Wednesday, more than a decade after the plane’s mysterious disappearance over the Indian Ocean.
The Malaysian government said Texas-based maritime robotics company Ocean Infinity will begin a 55-day focused deep-sea search for the missing plane in the southern Indian Ocean by the end of the month, according to the Associated Press.
On March 8, 2014, the Boeing 777 was taking off from Kuala Lumpur towards Beijing when it disappeared about 90 seconds after leaving Malaysian airspace, disappearing along with all 239 passengers in what has become one of aviation’s greatest unsolved mysteries.
Satellite data revealed that the plane deviated from its flight path and flew south towards the far southern Indian Ocean, where it is believed to have crashed.
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Flight officer Rayan Gharazeddine scans the waters in the southern Indian Ocean off the coast of Australia from a Royal Australian Air Force AP-3C Orion during a search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, March 22, 2014. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)
According to a statement from Malaysia’s Ministry of Transport, as reported by AP, Ocean Infinity will hunt in target areas believed to have the best chance of finding the missing aircraft.
“The latest development underlines the Government of Malaysia’s commitment to bring closure to the families affected by this tragedy,” the Transport Ministry said.
The announcement comes after the Malaysian government gave final approval in March for Ocean Infinity to begin the search, after agreeing to a no-find, no fee contract that only rewards the company $70 million if wreckage is discovered within the 5,800-square-kilometer site.
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Underwater equipment at the Ocean Infinity Group Ltd factory. in Southampton, UK, on Wednesday, February 9, 2023. Ocean Infinity will begin a 55-day focused deep-sea search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in the southern Indian Ocean on December 30. (Jose Sarmento Matos/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Debris has previously been found on the East African coast and on islands in the Indian Ocean, but a multinational search turned up no clues to the location of MH370.
Ocean Infinity also conducted a private investigation in 2018 that turned up nothing, but CEO Oliver Plunkett reportedly said earlier this year that his company had since improved its technology.
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A French gendarme takes a photo of the rubble collected by members of local ecological associations and volunteers in the eastern part of Sainte-Suzanne, on the French island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean, on August 11, 2015, during searches for the missing flight MH370 carried out by French forces and local associations. The hunt for the missing MH370 will resume on December 30. (RICHARD BOUHET/AFP via Getty Images)
