Malaysia agrees to resume search for missing MH370 plane

By AFP
December 21, 2024
Indian sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik creates a sand sculpture of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 on Puri beach in eastern Odisha, India on March 7, 2015. — AFP
Indian sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik creates a sand sculpture of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 on Puri beach in eastern Odisha, India on March 7, 2015. — AFP

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia announced on Friday it has agreed to launch a new search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which disappeared 10 years ago in one of aviation´s greatest enduring mysteries.

The Boeing 777 carrying 239 people disappeared from radar screens on March 8, 2014 while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Despite the largest search in aviation history, the plane has never been found.

Transport Minister Anthony Loke said Malaysia had agreed to a new search operation by maritime exploration firm Ocean Infinity, which also carried out an unsuccessful hunt in 2018.

The company´s first efforts followed a massive Australia-led search for the aircraft that lasted three years before it was suspended in January 2017.

Loke said a new 15,000 square kilometre area of the southern Indian Ocean would be scoured by Ocean Infinity, which is based in the United Kingdom and United States.

“The new search area proposed by Ocean Infinity is based on the latest information and data analysis conducted by experts and researchers,” Loke said.

“The proposal for a search operation by Ocean Infinity is a solid one and deserves to be considered,” he told reporters.