Latest news with #Armada7806
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
New search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 approved as researchers plan to investigate fresh area of Indian Ocean
Malaysia's government granted a U.S.-based tech firm final approval to restart its search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 — more than 11 years after the plane disappeared in one of the aviation industry's most confounding mysteries. Ocean Infinity, a maritime exploration firm based in Texas and Britain, signed a 'no-find, no-fee' contract with Malaysian officials on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported. Ocean Infinity will receive its $70 million reward only if it locates the plane. This was the same contract Ocean Infinity had almost seven years ago, but the company did not find any wreckage. This time, Ocean Infinity will search a different area in the ocean comprising 5,800 square miles, Transport Minister Anthony Loke said in a statement. The Malaysian government announced in December that it had agreed to launch a new search for MH370. 'The government is committed to continuing the search operation and providing closure for the families of the passengers of flight MH370,' Loke said. Flight MH370, a Boeing 777 aircraft carrying 239 people including 12 crew members, vanished from radar screens on March 8, 2014, while it was traveling from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing, China. It kicked off the largest search in aviation history, but the plane has still never been found. Several pieces of marine debris, which were discovered along the coast of Africa and on several Indian Ocean islands, were confirmed in 2016 to be from Flight 370. Collected satellite data reportedly showed that the plane deviated from its planned flight path and headed toward the southern Indian Ocean, which is where researchers believe the plane crashed. Ocean Infinity's deep-water support vessel, the Armada 7806, arrived in a newly designated search zone in the Indian Ocean in late February. The Armada 7806, which is considered one of the most technically advanced ships of its kind, is set to deploy autonomous underwater vehicles, which provide detailed scans of the ocean floor to researchers. Ocean Infinity shut down its previous investigation in 2018, after searching for six months without finding any of the missing aircraft. The company was also involved in a search for the aircraft led by an Australian agency that started after the plane disappeared. That effort was suspended in January 2017. Ocean Infinity CEO Oliver Plunkett told reporters in March 2024 that the company was hoping to return to the search and was in contact with the Malaysian government. 'Finding MH370 and bringing some resolution for all connected with the loss of the aircraft has been a constant in our minds since we left the southern Indian Ocean in 2018,' he said. 'Since then, we have focused on driving the transformation of operations at sea; innovating with technology and robotics to further advance our ocean search capabilities.'
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
New search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 approved as researchers plan to investigate fresh area of Indian Ocean
Malaysia's government granted a U.S.-based tech firm final approval to restart its search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 — more than 11 years after the plane disappeared in one of the aviation industry's biggest mysteries. Ocean Infinity, a maritime exploration firm based in Texas and Britain, signed a 'no-find, no-fee' contract with Malaysian officials on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported, which means Ocean Infinity can only receive its $70 million reward if it actually finds the plane. This was the same contract Ocean Infinity was under almost seven years ago; the company did not find any wreckage. This time, Ocean Infinity will search in a new 5,800-square-mile area in the ocean, Transport Minister Anthony Loke said in a statement. The Malaysian government announced in December that it had agreed to launch a new search for MH370. 'The government is committed to continuing the search operation and providing closure for the families of the passengers of flight MH370,' Loke said. Flight MH370, a Boeing 777 aircraft carrying 239 people including 12 crew members, vanished from radar screens on March 8, 2014, while it was traveling from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing, China. It kicked off the largest search in aviation history, but the plane has still never been found. Several pieces of marine debris, which were discovered along the coast of Africa and on several Indian Ocean islands, were confirmed to be pieces of Flight 370 in 2016. Collected satellite data reportedly showed that the plane deviated from its planned flight path and headed toward the southern Indian Ocean, which is where researchers believe the plane crashed. Ocean Infinity's deep-water support vessel, the Armada 7806, arrived in a newly designated search zone in the Indian Ocean in late February. The Armada 7806, which is considered one of the most technically advanced ships of its kind, is set to deploy autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) which provide detailed scans of the ocean floor to researchers. Ocean Infinity shut down its previous investigation in 2018, after searching for six months without finding any of the missing aircraft. The company was also involved in a search for the aircraft led by an Australian agency that started after the plane disappeared. That effort was suspended in January 2017. Ocean Infinity's CEO, Oliver Plunkett, told reporters in March 2024 that the company was hoping to return to the search and was in contact with the Malaysian government. 'Finding MH370 and bringing some resolution for all connected with the loss of the aircraft has been a constant in our minds since we left the southern Indian Ocean in 2018,' he said. 'Since then, we have focused on driving the transformation of operations at sea; innovating with technology and robotics to further advance our ocean search capabilities.'
Telegraph
20-03-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Malaysia approves new search for missing flight MH370
Malaysia has approved a new search for the missing flight MH370, which vanished while travelling between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing with 239 people on board more than a decade ago. The country's cabinet authorised a 'no find, no fee' contract with Ocean Infinity, a UK-based marine robotics company, to probe a 15,000 sq km area in the southern Indian Ocean. If successful in the search, the firm will receive £56 million. But the wreckage and the missing black boxes would also help solve one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries. It is now more than a decade since MH370 disappeared from air traffic controllers' screens on March 8 2014, less than an hour after take-off. Friends and relatives of those on board have long been haunted by what happened to them. Although debris believed to be part of the Boeing 777 plane has washed up on the shores of the Indian Ocean in the years since, extensive searches for the wreckage by the three nations involved – Malaysia, China and Australia – have so far proven futile. A multi-national search that covered 74,000 sq km was abandoned in 2017, while a separate hunt by Ocean Infinity involving autonomous underwater vehicles was called off in May 2018 after just three months. At that point, the Malaysian government said efforts would be resumed only if 'credible new evidence' emerged. Oliver Punkett, the Ocean Infinity CEO, said this year that the technology available to launch a search had improved, and that analysts had refined their estimates of where the aircraft may have plunged into the sea. The deal with Malaysia was agreed in principle in December, and the firm has already deployed a search vessel to the target zone 1,200 miles off the coast of Perth, Australia, to capitalise on better conditions before winter arrives in the southern hemisphere. The vessel – a state-of-the art, 250-foot-long ship called Armada 78 06 – is operated via a satellite link from Ocean Infinity's control centre in Southampton. Equipped with 3D-imagers, sonars, lasers and cameras, it can spend up to four days submerged, and descend to 6km below the surface. Anthony Loke Siew Fook, Malaysia's transport minister, said in a statement announcing the new contract that his government 'is committed to continuing the search operation and providing closure for the families of the MH370 passengers'.
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Search resuming for Malaysia Airlines plane 11 years after it disappeared
HONG KONG — A U.S.-based company is resuming the search for the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, almost 11 years after it vanished in one of the greatest mysteries in aviation history. Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke said Tuesday that the government had given initial approval for Ocean Infinity, a marine robotics company based in Austin, Texas, to resume the search. He said the details of the contract were being finalized, including how long the search would last. Ocean Infinity conducted a monthslong search in 2018 but found no sign of the plane, which was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members when it veered dramatically off course and disappeared from radar March 8, 2014, shortly after taking off from the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, on an overnight flight to Beijing. The company says advances in technology have increased the chances of success, and the Malaysian government said in December that it had agreed to another search by Ocean Infinity on a 'no find, no fee' basis. Loke told reporters that Ocean Infinity was 'confident that the current search area is more credible, as they have previously covered a large area and believe this is the area that was missed in past searches,' The Malay Mail reported. 'They are confident this area will yield a positive result, and they are ready to take the risk and resume the search,' Loke said. 'That is why the Malaysian government is proceeding with it.' A spokesperson for Ocean Infinity said Wednesday that the company 'does not have any information to provide at this stage.' According to the ship tracking website MarineTraffic, the Ocean Infinity ship Armada 78 06 was in the southern Indian Ocean as of Feb. 23. The Boeing 777 plane disappeared in one of the most remote parts of the world, and experts say it could be miles underwater. Early searches focused on the South China Sea, the Strait of Malacca and the Andaman Sea before being expanded to the Indian Ocean southwest of Australia. Despite a search spanning hundreds of thousands of square miles that was the largest in aviation history, nothing has ever been found of the plane aside from about two dozen pieces of debris that washed ashore on the East African coast and islands in the Indian Ocean. The cause of the crash remains unknown, with theories including mechanical failure, hijacking or the plane being deliberately taken off course by its pilots. Families of those on the plane, more than 150 of whom were Chinese citizens, have pressed for a renewed search. Loke said he hoped the new effort by Ocean Infinity would provide answers 'not only for the families but also for the aviation industry as a whole, because this is the biggest mystery in the history of aviation.' This article was originally published on
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Malaysia yet to finalise MH370 search contract, as ship heads to new zone
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - A ship that will hunt for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has deployed to its Indian Ocean search zone, according to Malaysia's transport minister and ship tracking data, raising hopes of solving one of aviation's greatest mysteries. In December, Malaysia agreed to resume the search for the Boeing 777 that was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew when it vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014. Malaysia has not yet signed off on the contract to search the seabed for wreckage, however, casting uncertainty over whether a search has begun. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. Contacted by Reuters, U.S. exploration firm Ocean Infinity, which conducted the last search for the plane that ended in 2018, said it had no information to provide at this stage. Malaysia had not yet signed the contract with Ocean Infinity, Transport Minister Anthony Loke said on Tuesday, but he welcomed the company's "proactiveness" to deploy its ships to that area to begin the search. "Since Ocean Infinity already started to mobilise their ships, of course we welcome it because we have given the principle approval for the search to resume and just need to finalise the contract," Loke told a press conference. The search would not be open-ended, however, he warned. "It is not indefinite; there is a certain timeframe given for the contract. These are the details that we need to finalise before we sign," Loke added. Refinitiv ship tracking data shows one of Ocean Infinity's ships, Armada 78 06, began tracking on Sunday a part of the Southern Indian Ocean, about 2,000 km (1,200 miles) off Australia's west coast. Ocean Infinity's proposal to resume the search will see it expand the previous search area by 15,000 sq km (5,790 sq miles) in an effort lasting 18 months, with the period from January to April offering the best window, Malaysia said in December. No precise location of the new search area was given at the time. Ocean Infinity was "very confident that the current search area is more credible ... This is the area that they have missed in the past," Loke added. DECADE-LONG HUNT Malaysia engaged Ocean Infinity in 2018 to search in the southern Indian Ocean, but two attempts failed. They followed an underwater search by Australia, China and Malaysia over an area of 120,000 sq km (46,332 sq mile) of the southern Indian Ocean, based on records of automatic connections between an Inmarsat satellite and the aircraft. MH370's last transmission was about 40 minutes after it took off from Kuala Lumpur for the Chinese capital. The pilots signed off as the plane entered Vietnamese air space over the Gulf of Thailand and soon after its transponder was turned off. Military radar showed the plane left its flight path to fly back over northern Malaysia and then out into the Andaman Sea before turning south, when all contact was lost. Debris, some confirmed and some believed to be from the aircraft, has since washed up along the coast of Africa and on islands in the Indian Ocean. Victims' relatives have demanded compensation from Malaysia Airlines, Boeing, aircraft engine maker Rolls-Royce and the Allianz insurance group, among others. A 495-page report into the disappearance in 2018 said the Boeing 777's controls were probably deliberately manipulated to go off course, but investigators could not determine who was responsible and stopped short of offering a conclusion on what happened, saying that depended on finding the wreckage. Investigators have said there was nothing suspicious in the background, financial affairs, training and mental health of both the captain and co-pilot.
