Malaysia agrees to launch new research into the MH370 plane, which disappeared ten years ago with 239 people on board. Blogging Sole

Malaysia announced on Friday that it had agreed to launch a new search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370who disappeared 10 years ago in one of aviation’s greatest mysteries.

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

Despite the largest search in aviation history, the plane was never found. Malaysia’s prime minister said 17 days after the plane’s disappearance that, based on satellite data, his government had concluded that the plane had crashed in a remote corner of the Indian Ocean, and there were no survivors.

Transport Minister Anthony Loke said Malaysia had agreed to a new search operation by a maritime exploration company. Infinite Oceanwho also led an unsuccessful hunt in 2018.

The company’s initial efforts followed a massive Australian-led search for the plane that lasted three years before it was suspended in January 2017.

Loke said a new 5,800 square mile area of ​​the southern Indian Ocean would be explored by Ocean Infinity, based in the United Kingdom and the United States.

“The new research 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 strong and worth considering,” he told reporters.

The government said it had agreed “in principle” to Ocean Infinity’s proposal on December 13, with the Department for Transport expected to finalize terms by early 2025.

New research will resume “as soon as the contract is finalized and signed by both parties,” Loke said.

“They informed us that the ideal time for research in designated waters is between January and April. We are working to finalize the agreement as quickly as possible,” he added.

“I sincerely hope that the loss of MH370 will come to an end. May all questions be answered,” Malaysian Rosila Abu Samah, 60, mother-in-law of one of the passengers, told AFP.

Malaysian Shim Kok Chau, 49, whose wife was a stewardess on the ill-fated flight, said he had come to accept his fate but hopes to find out what happened to the plane, ” why it happened and who did it.”

Among the other victims was a famous group of 24 Chinese calligraphy artists coming from an exhibition of their work. Two young Iranians on the plane, Pouria Nour Mohammad Mehrdad, 18, and Delavar Seyed Mohammadreza, 29, were traveling on stolen passports to seek a better life in Europe.

Two of the U.S. citizens on the plane were young children, Nicole Meng, 4, and Yan Zhang, 2.

Philip Wood was the only American adult on flight. The IBM executive was living in Beijing and was considering moving to the Malaysian capital with his girlfriend, Sarah Bajc.

“No search, no fees”

The new search will be based on the same “no search, no fee” principle as the previous search for Ocean Infinity, with the government only paying if it finds the plane.

The contract is for 18 months and Malaysia will pay $70 million to the company if the plane is found, Loke said.

He said the decision to accept further searches “reflects the Malaysian government’s commitment to continuing the search operation and providing closure for the families of the MH370 victims.”

Initial searches by Australia covered 120,000 square kilometers in the Indian Ocean, but found virtually no trace of the plane, with only some debris collected.

In July 2015, a plane fragment later confirmed that it is a flaperon MH370 was found stranded on the island of Reunion, in the western Indian Ocean. It was the first tangible evidence that the plane had crashed in the area. More debris was later found washed up on the coast of East Africa.

The disappearance of the plane has long been the subject of theories, notably that veteran pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah had gone rogue.

A final report on the tragedy published in 2018 highlighted air traffic control failures and said the plane’s trajectory had been manually changed.

Asked if he was sure the plane would be found in the new search, Loke said: “At this stage, no one can provide any guarantees.

“It’s been more than 10 years and it would be unfair to expect a concrete commitment. However, under the terms and conditions, any findings must be credible. It can’t just be a few fragments; there are specific criteria outlined in the contract.