The Malaysian government said it has agreed in principle to resume the search for a passenger jet that vanished 10 years ago in one of aviation’s greatest mysteries.
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared in March 2014 while on its way to Beijing, China, from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia with 239 people on board.
The search for the Boeing 777 has stalled over the years, and hundreds of families of those on board are left to grapple with the tragedy.
On Friday, Malaysia’s transport minister Anthony Loke said that the cabinet approved a $70m (£56m) deal with US-based marine exploration firm Ocean Infinity to find the aircraft.
Under a “no find, no fee” agreement, Ocean Infinity will only be paid if the wreckage is found.
A 2018 search for the MH370 wreckage by Ocean Infinity under similar terms failed after three months.
A multination, $150m (£120m) cost effort ended in 2017 after scouring vast waters for two years. The governments of the three nations involved in the search – Malaysia, Australia, and China – said the search would only be resumed “should credible new evidence emerge” of the aircraft’s location.
While the government has, in principle, accepted Ocean Infinity’s offer, Loke said that negotiations over specific terms of the deal were still underway and would be finalized early next year.
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The minister said the new search will now cover a 15,000 sq km patch of the southern Indian Ocean after Kuala Lumpur found the fresh data to be “credible.”
“We hope this time will be positive,” Loke said, adding that finding the wreckage would give closure to the families of those on board.
