According to a statement from the transport ministry, a US-based firm will search intermittently from 30 December for a total of 55 days in targeted areas believed to have the highest likelihood of finding the missing aircraft.
Malaysia’s transport ministry said Wednesday that the deep-sea search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 will restart on 30 December, boosting hopes of finally finding the jet that vanished without a trace more than a decade ago
The most recent search for the Boeing 777 plane, which disappeared from radar shortly after taking off on 8 March 2014, was halted in April due to bad weather.
According to a statement from the transport ministry, the US-based marine robotics firm Ocean Infinity will search intermittently from 30 December for a total of 55 days in targeted areas believed to have the highest likelihood of finding the missing aircraft.
“The latest development underscores the government of Malaysia’s commitment to providing closure to the families affected by this tragedy,” it said.
Malaysia’s government gave the green light in March for a “no-find, no-fee” contract with Ocean Infinity to resume the seabed search operation at a new 15,000-square-kilometre site in the ocean.
Ocean Infinity will be paid $70 million only if wreckage is discovered.
An expensive multinational search failed to turn up any clues to its location, although debris washed ashore on the East African coast and Indian Ocean islands. A private search in 2018 by Ocean Infinity also found nothing.
The Boeing 777 plane disappeared from air control radar 39 minutes after leaving Kuala Lumpur en route to Beijing on March 8, 2014.
The plane carried 239 people, including five young children, as well as 12 crew members. Most of those aboard were from China, but there were also people from other countries, including the United States, Indonesia, France, and Russia.
Satellite data showed the plane turned from its flight path and headed south to the far-southern Indian Ocean, where it is believed to have crashed.