A U.S.-based company is resuming the search for the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, almost 11 years after it vanished in one of the greatest mysteries in aviation history.
Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke said Tuesday that the government had given initial approval for Ocean Infinity, a marine robotics company based in Austin, Texas, to resume the search. He said the details of the contract were being finalized, including how long the search would last.
Ocean Infinity conducted a monthslong search in 2018 but found no sign of the plane, which was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members when it veered dramatically off course and disappeared from radar March 8, 2014, shortly after taking off from the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, on an overnight flight to Beijing.
The company says advances in technology have increased the chances of success, and the Malaysian government said in December that it had agreed to another search by Ocean Infinity on a “no find, no fee” basis.
Loke told reporters that Ocean Infinity was “confident that the current search area is more credible, as they have previously covered a large area and believe this is the area that was missed in past searches,” The Malay Mail reported.
“They are confident this area will yield a positive result, and they are ready to take the risk and resume the search,” Loke said. “That is why the Malaysian government is proceeding with it.”
A spokesperson for Ocean Infinity said Wednesday that the company “does not have any information to provide at this stage.”
According to the ship tracking website MarineTraffic, the Ocean Infinity ship Armada 78 06 was in the southern Indian Ocean as of Feb. 23.
The Boeing 777 plane disappeared in one of the most remote parts of the world, and experts say it could be miles underwater. Early searches focused on the South China Sea, the Strait of Malacca and the Andaman Sea before being expanded to the Indian Ocean southwest of Australia.
Despite a search spanning hundreds of thousands of square miles that was the largest in aviation history, nothing has ever been found of the plane aside from about two dozen pieces of debris that washed ashore on the East African coast and islands in the Indian Ocean.
The cause of the crash remains unknown, with theories including mechanical failure, hijacking or the plane being deliberately taken off course by its pilots.
Families of those on the plane, more than 150 of whom were Chinese citizens, have pressed for a renewed search.
Loke said he hoped the new effort by Ocean Infinity would provide answers “not only for the families but also for the aviation industry as a whole, because this is the biggest mystery in the history of aviation.”
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