Texas robotics company gets approval to search for MH370 in new part of ocean
Malaysia's government has given final approval for a Texas-based marine robotics company to
renew the search
for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which is believed to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean
more than a decade ago
.
Cabinet ministers agreed to terms and conditions for a "no-find, no-fee" contract with Texas-based Ocean Infinity to resume the seabed search operation at a
new 5,800-square-mile site
in the ocean, Transport Minister Anthony Loke said in a statement Wednesday. Ocean Infinity will be paid $70 million only if wreckage is discovered.
The Boeing 777 plane
vanished from radar
shortly after taking off on March 8, 2014, carrying 239 people, mostly Chinese nationals, on a flight from Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur, to Beijing. Satellite data showed the plane turned from its flight path and headed south to the far-southern Indian Ocean, where it is believed to have crashed.
An expensive multinational search — the
largest in aviation history
— failed to turn up any clues to its location, although
debris washed ashore
on the east African coast and Indian Ocean islands. A
private search in 2018
by Ocean Infinity also found nothing.
The final approval for a new search came three months after Malaysia gave the nod in principle to plans for a fresh search.
Ocean Infinity CEO Oliver Punkett earlier this year reportedly said the company had improved its technology since 2018. He has said the firm is working with many experts to analyze data and had narrowed the search area to the most likely site.
Loke said his ministry will ink a contract with Ocean Infinity soon but didn't provide details on the terms. The firm has reportedly sent a search vessel to the site and indicated that January-April is the best period for the search.
"The government is committed to continuing the search operation and providing closure for the families of the passengers of flight MH370," he said in a statement.
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