NewsNation

New search to begin for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370: Reports

Anna Kutz

(NewsNation) — A British company will lead a new search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared over the southern Indian Ocean in March 2014.

Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke told media Tuesday that Ocean Infinity, an exploration firm based in Britain and Texas, would resume searching for the aircraft.


Loke told reporters that contract details for the search aren’t yet finalized but that Malaysia appreciates the “proactiveness of Ocean Infinity to deploy their ships.”

The latest search comes after the Malaysian government in December agreed to accept a second “no find, no fee” proposal from the United States and Ocean Infinity.

“The proposed new search area, identified by Ocean Infinity, is based on the latest information and data analyses conducted by experts and researchers. The company’s proposal is credible,” Loke said in a December statement.

If Ocean Infinity finds significant wreckage at a new 5,800-square-mile site, the company could receive $70 million.

Ocean Infinity led an unsuccessful search in 2018, though CEO Oliver Plunkett has reportedly said the company’s technology has improved, according to Associated Press reporting.

A man walks past a board reading “Pray for MH370” for passengers aboard a missing Malaysia Airlines plane, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on March 15, 2014. (AP Photo/Lai Seng Sin, File)
Chinese farmer Li Eryou takes an investigation report on the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 flight from a bookshelf of his son’s former room at a village in Handan in northern China’s Hebei province on Feb. 28, 2024. Li, whose son was on the flight, continues to search for answers ten years on. The baffling disappearance of flight MH370 still captivates people around the world. The Boeing 777 left Kuala Lumpur with 239 people on March 8, 2014, but dropped off radar screens shortly after and never made it to Beijing, its destination. Investigators say someone deliberately shut down the plane’s communications system and took the plane off course. (AP Photo/Emily Wang Fujiyama)
Flight officer Rayan Gharazeddine scans the water in the southern Indian Ocean off Australia from a Royal Australian Air Force AP-3C Orion during a search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, March 22, 2014. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith, File)

Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 disappearance

On March 8, 2014, a Boeing 777 aircraft carrying 239 people vanished while traveling from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing, China.

The majority of passengers were Chinese nationals. Satellite data showed the plane deviated from its flight path to head over the southern Indian Ocean, where it is believed to have crashed.

An expensive multinational search failed to turn up any clues, although debris washed ashore on the East African coast and Indian Ocean islands.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.