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MH370 families requests new search for missing Malaysia plane
Relatives of those on board Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which inexplicably vanished over nine years ago, called on the Malaysian government to permit US seabed exploration company Ocean Infinity to conduct a new search for the missing jet on Sunday.
After going missing on March 8, 2014, while en way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, flight MH370’s fate became one of the greatest aviation mysteries in history.
With a promise to pay up to $70 million if the jet was located, Malaysia hired Ocean Infinity to look for the aircraft in the southern Indian Ocean in 2018.
But, it failed in its operation.
The company launched its search after Malaysia, China, and Australia called off their unsuccessful $135 million, two-year underwater search in January 2017 due to the lack of any sign of the jet.
Voice370, a coalition of surviving passengers’ relatives, announced on Sunday that Ocean Infinity hoped to start a new search as early as this summer.
Voice370 urged the Malaysian government to accept any proposals from the company on a conditional fee basis, meaning the firm would only be paid if successful.
“Ocean Infinity, over the last 12 months have made real progress working with many people to further understand… the events in 2014,” Voice370 said in a statement, following a memorial event to mark the ninth year since MH370’s disappearance.
“Ultimately, this has greatly improved their chances of conducting a successful search.”
Requests for feedback from Ocean Infinity and Malaysia‘s Transport Ministry were not promptly entertained.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke promised not to “shut the book” on MH370, adding that proper attention would be given to further searches if there was “new and trustworthy evidence” on the plane’s possible position, in a message to families read out at the memorial service.
Around the African coast and on islands in the Indian Ocean, debris from the MH370 aircraft has been confirmed or is thought to have washed ashore.
The Malaysian investigation previously came to no conclusions regarding what transpired during the flight, but did not completely rule out the idea that the plane had been purposefully diverted.
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