Malaysian Government finally confirms new search for MH370

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January 05, 2018
MH370 Seabed Constructor Ocean Infinity
The Seabed Constructor. Photo: Swire Seabed.

The Malaysian government has finally accepted Ocean Infinity’s no find, no fee offer to find MH370 that disappeared on March 8, 2014, with 239 aboard.

According to Channel News Asia, the MH Family Support Centre has sent an email today to the next-of-kin saying that the “government of Malaysia has engaged Ocean Infinity to undertake further search operation for MH370 on a ‘no cure, no fee’ basis”.

Also, the family members were told that a vessel had left for “the search area” on Tuesday.

This week the ship to be used in Ocean Infinity’s high-tech search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 set sail from Durban, South Africa, on its way to the Southern Indian Ocean.

Seabed Constructor will be at the search area about January 15-16.

The search will begin in a 25,000 sq. km area around 35°S designated by experts in 2016 as the most likely crash site.

Drift modeling and analysis of satellite imagery significantly boosted confidence among Australian experts that the wreckage of the Boeing 777, which went missing in March 2014, is in the southern half of a 25,000 sq. km.

Scientists identified a location at latitude 35.6°S and longitude 92.8°E, near the seventh arc defined by satellite data, as the most likely location for the missing plane.

However, if the wreckage is not found in the 25,000 sq. km search area the vessel will head north to an area around 30°S proposed by independent experts.

AirlineRatings revealed in October that the Malaysians were planning to resume the search with Ocean Infinity tipped as the winning bid. The MH370 Response team later confirmed to families of victims this was the case.

Malaysia’s Deputy Transport Minister Ab Aziz Kaprawi said in October Ocean Infinity would be paid between $US20 and $US70 million if they find the aircraft within 90 days of beginning the search.