US-based deep-sea robotics firm Ocean Infinity to lead a 55-day seabed search targeting new high-probability zones
More than a decade after Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 vanished, the Malaysian government has announced that a new search will begin on 30 December, reopening one of the most enduring aviation mysteries.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the transport ministry confirmed that US-based deep-sea robotics firm Ocean Infinity will restart the underwater search. The operation will run for 55 days and take place intermittently, depending on weather and sea conditions. Officials said the team will focus on areas believed to hold the highest chance of locating the aircraft, though exact coordinates were not disclosed.
Flight MH370 disappeared on 8 March 2014 during a routine journey from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board. The aircraft veered off course, lost communication, and vanished from radar, triggering a massive international search across the southern Indian Ocean. Despite extensive efforts by multiple countries, no wreckage was ever found in the primary search zone.
Families of passengers have pushed for renewed action for years, travelling to coastlines such as Madagascar and Mozambique to look for debris after earlier searches identified scattered fragments. Malaysia had previously said it would reopen the case only if new, credible evidence emerged.
Ocean Infinity will conduct the new search under a “no-find, no-fee” agreement, meaning it will be paid only if the wreckage is located. Last year, the company was cleared to scan a new 15,000-square-kilometre section of the ocean, but work was suspended earlier this year because of rough seas.
The aircraft, a Boeing 777-200, was last detected on military radar at 2:14am as it flew west over the Strait of Malacca. By the time it failed to arrive in Beijing later that morning, the disappearance had already become one of aviation’s most complex mysteries.
Investigations over the years have suggested the plane made a deliberate course change and that unlawful interference could not be ruled out. Mechanical failure was dismissed as a cause, though authorities have never been able to establish what happened in the aircraft’s final hours.
Malaysia said the decision to resume the search reflects its commitment to providing closure to families who have waited more than 11 years for answers.
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