Kuala Lumpur [Malaysia], December 20 : Malaysia's government has agreed in principle to restart the search for the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, over a decade after its mysterious disappearance in 2014, Al Jazeera reported.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke, made the announcement on Friday, stating that the proposal for a new search in the southern Indian Ocean was submitted by the US-based exploration firm Ocean Infinity, which had previously led the last search effort in 2018.
While speaking with the reporters, Loke said, "The proposal for a search operation by Ocean Infinity is a solid one and deserves to be considered. Our responsibility and obligation and commitment is to the next of kin. We hope this time will be positive, that the wreckage will be found and give closure to the families."
Notably, Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014, when it went missing over the South China Sea, as per the news report. To date, the plane and the 239 people, which included 227 passengers and 12 crew have not been found despite a multinational search effort that lasted years, as reported by Al Jazeera.
Underwater searches were carried out for the flight in the Indian Ocean that covered 120,000 square kilometres and cost about 200 million Australian Dollars. The underwater searches were subsequently suspended indefinitely in January 2017. However, Malaysia accepted a "no-cure, no-fee" offer from US exploration firm Ocean Infinity in 2018.
The three-month search effort covered 1,12,000 sq km north of the original target area. However, no discovery was made during the search. The search was called off in May 2018.
An official 495-page report in July 2018 stated that MH370 was deliberately taken off course by a person or persons unknown, MalayMail had reported. It has been recorded as the most expensive search operation in aviation history.
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