Families of MH370 victims have questioned why the Malaysian government has not accepted a proposal by US-based Ocean Infinity to resume the search on a no-find, no fee basis.
The Malaysian government has confirmed it received the offer and the families say it has been sitting on it for more than four months.
The deal means the US firm assumes the risk associated with the search and would be paid only if it finds the wreckage.
Experts warn there is only a finite window of opportunity if the search is to be resumed this summer and the Malaysians need to make a decision soon. It is understood the compensation Ocean Infinity would seek if it found the wreckage is within the bounds of normal commercial negotiations.
A group representing families of the victims, Voice370, called for the offer to be accepted “without delay””
It demanded that the Malaysian government to share ore information with families, the aviation industry and the flying public.
This should include details of the Ocean Infinity proposal, an indication of when a decision would be made and the criteria used to evaluate it, the group said.
It also wanted to know what plans Malaysia had for recovering the wreckage should it be found.
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“It bears reminding that Malaysia remains principally responsible to fund, search and retrieve MH370,’’ the group said.
The families also noted the identified search area lay within Australia’s search and rescue area and that many of the passengers were Chinese.
Although Australian Transport Safety Bureau personnel are keen to resume the search and stand ready to help, Australian Transport Minister Darren Chester has repeatedly said the decision needs to come from Malaysia.
A two-year sweep of the original 120,000 sq, km. search area failed to find any signs of the wreckage and was ended by the Malaysian, Australian and Chinese governments in January amid criticism by experts it was abandoned too soon.
Ocean Infinity uses six HUGIN autonomous underwater vehicles capable of operating at depths of up to 6000m to collect high-resolution data at what it says are “record-breaking speeds’’.
Six unmanned surface vehicles accompany the underwater drones to ensure precise positioning and constant communication.
Deep water recovery specialist and shipwreck hunter David Mearns, who led the search for the HMS Hood and German battleship Bismark, told Australia’s studio 10 in July that the decision to suspend the search was unacceptable.
“It can be found. The technology is there to find it,’’ said Mearns, who also led the search team that found the Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney. “They just need to be able to look in the right place.
“And they’re narrowing the areas. The next search will be smaller than what’s been already done.”
“And everybody should be concerned about this, because until that black box is found, and we recover the black boxes, we don’t know what happened.”
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