Malaysia to resume hunt for flight MH370, 10 years after it vanished
Exploration firm Ocean Infinity will receive US$70 million if the wreckage found is substantive, says Malaysia's Transport Minister Anthony Loke.
FILE PHOTO: A man writes on a message board for passengers, onboard the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, during its fifth annual remembrance event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia March 3, 2019. REUTERS/Lai Seng Sin/File Photo
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has agreed to resume the search for the wreckage of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, its transport minister said on Friday (Dec 20), more than 10 years after it disappeared in one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries.
Flight MH370, a Boeing 777 carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew, vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on Mar 8, 2014.
"Our responsibility and obligation and commitment is to the next of kin," Transport Minister Anthony Loke told a press conference.
"We hope this time will be positive, that the wreckage will be found and give closure to the families."
Jiang Hui, whose mother was an MH370 passenger, welcomed the decision to resume the search, but said the process to get there had taken too long and would be better if more players could take part.
"We hope the Malaysian government can adopt a more open approach, such as offering a public reward system where anyone can participate in the search," he said
MH370's last transmission was about 40 minutes after it took off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing. The pilots signed off as the plane entered Vietnamese air space over the Gulf of Thailand and soon after its transponder was turned off.
Military radar showed the plane left its flight path to fly back over northern Malaysia then out into the Andaman Sea before turning south, then all contact was lost.
Debris, some confirmed and some believed to be from the aircraft, has since washed up along the coast of Africa and on islands in the Indian Ocean.
Loke said the proposal to resume the search in the southern Indian Ocean came from exploration firm Ocean Infinity, which had conducted the last search for the plane that ended in 2018.
A contract would be signed to cover an 18-month period and the firm would receive US$70 million if wreckage found is substantive, he said, adding the search will be on the seabed of a new area covering 15,000 sq km.
No precise location of the new search area was given.
"The proposal for a search operation by Ocean Infinity is a solid one and deserves to be considered," he told reporters.
The government said it agreed to Ocean Infinity's proposal "in principle" on Dec 13, with the transport ministry expected to finalise terms by early 2025.
The new search will resume "as soon as the contract is finalised and signed by both parties", Loke said.
"They have informed us that the ideal time for the search in the designated waters is between January and April. We are working to finalise the agreement as quickly as possible," he added.
CREDIBLE DATA
Loke said Malaysia had assessed new data on the possible location from multiple experts and Ocean Infinity was confident about the chances of locating the wreckage.
"The data has all been presented. Our team has gone through and they felt that it is credible," he said.
Malaysia engaged Ocean Infinity in 2018 to search in the southern Indian Ocean, but it failed on two attempts.
That followed an underwater search by Malaysia, Australia and China in a 120,000 sq km area of the southern Indian Ocean, based on data of automatic connections between an Inmarsat satellite and the plane.
The new arrangement would be on a no-find-no-fee principle, whereby Malaysia would not be required to pay Ocean Infinity unless sufficient wreckage is found and verified.
Asked if he was confident the plane would be found during the new search, Loke said: "At this point, no one can provide guarantees.
"It has been over 10 years, and it would be unfair to expect a concrete commitment. However, under the terms and conditions, any discovery must be credible. It cannot just be a few fragments; there are specific criteria outlined in the contract."
Ocean Infinity CEO Oliver Plunkett earlier this year reportedly said the the company had improved its technology since 2018. He has said the firm is working with many experts to analyse data and narrow the search area to the most likely site.
WHAT HAPPENED?
The plane's disappearance has long been the subject of theories - ranging from the credible to outlandish - including that veteran pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah had gone rogue.
A 495-page report into the disappearance in 2018 said the Boeing 777's controls were likely deliberately manipulated to go off course, but investigators could not determine who was responsible and stopped short of offering a conclusion on what happened, saying that depended on finding the wreckage.
Investigators have said there was nothing suspicious in the background, financial affairs, training and mental health of both the captain and co-pilot.
"I truly hope there will be an end to the loss of MH370. May all questions be answered," Malaysian Rosila Abu Samah, 60, the stepmother of one of the passengers, told AFP.
Malaysian Shim Kok Chau, 49, whose wife was a flight attendant on the ill-fated flight, said he had come to accept her fate but hopes to know what happened to the plane, "why it happened and who did it".
More than 150 Chinese passengers were on the flight. Others included 50 Malaysians as well as citizens of France, Australia, Indonesia, India, the United States, Ukraine and Canada, among others.
Relatives have demanded compensation from Malaysia Airlines, Boeing, aircraft engine maker Rolls-Royce and the Allianz insurance group among others.
