Malaysia says search for long-missing flight MH370 to resume

More than a decade after the jet vanished with 239 people on board – including Australians – Malaysia has confirmed a new 55-day hunt will start. See how it will differ to previous searches.

The search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 will resume at the end of December, Malaysia said, more than a decade after the plane disappeared.

The nation’s Transport Minister Anthony Loke said the decision to continue the efforts now is based “on the season, which is favourable for the search (to resume).”
The Boeing 777 carrying 239 people vanished from radar screens on March 8, 2014, while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in one of aviation’s greatest enduring mysteries.

A member of Indonesia's National Search and Rescue scans the horizon during a search in the Andaman sea area around the northern tip of Indonesia's Sumatra island for MH370. Picture; AFP

Two-thirds of the passengers were Chinese, while the others included Malaysians, Indonesians and Australians, as well as Indian, American, Dutch and French nationals.

Despite the largest search in aviation history, the plane has not been found. Search operations were called off in April because of changing weather, with Loke at the time saying the work would resume later in the year.

China and victims’ relatives welcomed the announcement.

“We have noted relevant reports and appreciate the efforts made by the Malaysian side,” Beijing’s foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said.

Jiang Hui, whose mother was on the plane, said his family “welcomes the continued search by the Malaysian government and OceanInfinity!.”

A Royal Australian Air Force AP-3C Orion flying past Australian Defence Vessel Ocean Shield on a mission to drop sonar buoys to assist in the acoustic search for MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean. Picture: AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE / AFP

Posting on Chinese social media platform WeChat, Jiang added his family hoped the upcoming search, planned for 55 days, in future will have “no fixed period.”

Maritime exploration firm Ocean Infinity will be conducting the search “in (a) targeted area assessed to have the highest probability of locating the aircraft”, the ministry said on Wednesday local time.

The search is conducted on the “no find, no fee” principle, with the government only paying out if the firm finds the aircraft.

Ocean Infinity, based in Britain and the United States, led an unsuccessful hunt in 2018, before agreeing to launch a new search this year.

An initial Australia-led search covered 120,000 square kilometres in the Indian Ocean over three years but found hardly any trace of the plane other than a few pieces of debris.

The ministry said the latest development underscores its commitment in “providing closure to the families affected by the tragedy”.

Flight officer Rayan Gharazeddine scans the water in the southern Indian Ocean off Australia from a Royal Australian Air Force AP-3C Orion during a search for MH370. Picture: AP

Relatives of the victims had voiced hope in February that a new search could finally bring some answers.

The plane’s disappearance has long been the subject of theories – ranging from the credible to outlandish – including that veteran pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah had gone rogue.

A final report into the tragedy released in 2018 pointed to failings by air traffic control and said the course of the plane was changed manually.

Investigators said in the 495-page report that they still did not know why the plane vanished and refused to rule out that someone other than the pilots had diverted the jet.

Relatives of passengers lost on the flight have continued to demand answers from Malaysian authorities.

Family members of Chinese passengers gathered in Beijing outside government offices and the Malaysian embassy in March on the 11th anniversary of the flight’s disappearance.

Attendees of the gathering shouted, “Give us back our loved ones!”, with some holding placards asking, “When will the 11 years of waiting and torment end?”

– AFP