MH370: Search for Missing Malaysia Airlines Flight Resumes After 11 Years

Malaysia’s transport minister has confirmed that maritime exploration firm Ocean Infinity has resumed the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which vanished in one of aviation’s greatest mysteries.

A new hunt for the missing aircraft has been launched more than a decade after its disappearance, Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke announced on Tuesday.

Renewed Hope for Families Seeking Closure

Loke told reporters that while the contract details between Malaysia and Ocean Infinity were still being finalized, he welcomed the company’s decision to proactively deploy its ships to begin the search.

He did not specify how long the new search would last or when exactly the British firm had restarted its mission.

MH370 disappeared from radar shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport in March 2014. Bound for Beijing, the aircraft carried 12 crew members and 227 passengers. Despite extensive searches, the wreckage has never been found, and the cause of its disappearance remains unknown.

“We’re very relieved and pleased that the search is resuming once again after such a long hiatus,” said Grace Nathan, a Malaysian woman who lost her mother on the flight.

Jaquita Gonzales, the wife of MH370 flight supervisor Patrick Gomes, echoed similar sentiments, hoping that the renewed search would bring long-awaited closure.

“We just want to know where it is and what happened,” she said. “Memories come back like yesterday—it’s fresh in our heads.”

Search Details and Ocean Infinity’s Role

Marine tracking data from Marinetraffic.com showed an Ocean Infinity vessel operating in the southern Indian Ocean as of February 23.

Malaysia agreed to relaunch the search in December 2024, with Ocean Infinity conducting operations on a “no-find-no-fee” basis. According to Loke, the government plans to sign an 18-month contract, under which Ocean Infinity will receive $70 million if the wreckage is located and verified. The search area will cover 15,000 square kilometers in the southern Indian Ocean.

On March 8, 2024, marking the 10th anniversary of the aircraft’s disappearance, Australia extended an offer to support the search. However, on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Australian Transport Safety Bureau clarified that Australian authorities were not directly involved in the renewed efforts.

The Timeline of MH370’s Disappearance

Flight MH370, a Boeing 777-200, departed Kuala Lumpur at 12:41 a.m. local time on March 8, 2014, en route to Beijing. The aircraft was last detected on military radar at 2:14 a.m., heading west over the Strait of Malacca. Half an hour later, Malaysia Airlines announced it had lost contact with the plane, which was scheduled to land in Beijing around 6:30 a.m.

Families of those on board have spent years searching for answers. In 2016, some traveled to Madagascar to search for debris after pieces of the aircraft were found on the Tanzanian and Mozambican coasts.

In January 2017, after nearly three years of searching 120,000 square kilometers, Australian authorities ended the underwater search. Later that year, in its final report, Australian investigators described the inability to find the plane as “a great tragedy” and “almost inconceivable” in the modern era.

Unanswered Questions and Theories

A key mystery surrounding MH370 is why it veered off course towards the southern Indian Ocean and why two of its critical communication and tracking systems suddenly went silent.

Theories regarding the disappearance range from a pilot “gone rogue” to sabotage, or even conspiracies suggesting that the aircraft was shot down or secretly landed at an undisclosed location due to sensitive cargo or a politically significant passenger.

Data recovered from a flight simulator at the home of Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah revealed that someone had plotted a course toward the southern Indian Ocean, further fueling speculation about the cause of the disappearance.

Ocean Infinity’s Previous Search

Ocean Infinity, a company based in Britain and the United States, previously conducted a search for MH370 in 2018 but was unable to locate the wreckage. The firm is now returning with improved technology and a refined search strategy, offering renewed hope for answers in one of aviation’s greatest unsolved mysteries.

Sources: AirGuide Business airguide.info, bing.com, theguardian.com