Malaysia to Restart Search Efforts for MH370

Kuala Lumpur, Dec. 20 (NationPress) The Malaysian government has reached a preliminary agreement to recommence the search for Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, as announced by Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook on Friday.

Loke stated during a press briefing that the cabinet has agreed in principle to accept the proposal from the exploration company Ocean Infinity to initiate seabed search operations aimed at locating MH370 in a newly identified area covering approximately 15,000 square kilometres in the southern Indian Ocean.

He commented, "This mission will adhere to the 'no find, no fee' principle. According to this principle, the Malaysian government will only compensate Ocean Infinity if the wreckage of the aircraft is found," he added.

Loke further mentioned that the newly proposed search area, identified by Ocean Infinity, is credible based on the latest information and data assessments conducted by experts and researchers, as reported by the Xinhua news agency.

The disappearance of MH370 was a tragic event that transpired on March 8, 2014, when the Boeing 777, operating between Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia and Beijing Capital International Airport in China, vanished from radar with all 239 individuals on board.

Families of the passengers aboard the ill-fated flight have been urging the Kuala Lumpur government to initiate a new search for the aircraft.

Previously, the Malaysian government had also engaged the US seabed exploration firm Ocean Infinity to locate the aircraft in the southern Indian Ocean, with an offer of up to $70 million if the plane was found. However, this operation did not yield results.

At a memorial event a few years back, Malaysian Transport Minister vowed not to "close the book" on MH370, stating that future searches would be given due consideration if there was new and credible information regarding the aircraft's potential location.

Confirmed or suspected debris from the MH370 aircraft has washed up along the African coast and on islands in the Indian Ocean.

Malaysian investigators previously reached no conclusion regarding the events aboard the flight but did not dismiss the possibility that the aircraft had been intentionally diverted from its course.

The crew of the Boeing 777-200ER registered as 9M-MRO last communicated with Air Traffic Control (ATC) approximately 38 minutes after takeoff while the flight was over the South China Sea.

Minutes later, the aircraft was lost from ATC radar but was tracked by military radar for an additional hour, veering westward from its intended flight path, crossing the Malay Peninsula and the Andaman Sea.

The disappearance of flight 370 was the deadliest incident involving a Boeing 777 and the deadliest in Malaysia Airlines' history until it was surpassed in both respects by Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which was downed while flying over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014.