Malaysia 'green lights' search plan for MH370

Reuters reported on December 20 that Malaysian authorities have agreed in principle to restart the search for the wreckage of flight MH370.

Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke said on December 20 that the US private marine exploration company Ocean Infinity has proposed searching a new area in the southern Indian Ocean. Previously, Ocean Infinity also conducted a search for the MH370 wreckage and ended it in 2018.

At the press conference, Mr. Loke said that Ocean Infinity would receive $70 million if the wreckage was found to be of real value. "We hope that this time there will be a positive sign that the wreckage will be found and that it will bring closure to the families of the victims," he said.

People in Malaysia leave memorials for victims of flight MH370

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, a Boeing 777 carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew, disappeared on March 8, 2014, while en route from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing, China. Malaysian investigators initially did not rule out the possibility that the plane had been deliberately diverted.

Several confirmed pieces of MH370 debris have washed up along the coast of Africa and on islands in the Indian Ocean.

Malaysia hired Ocean Infinity in 2018 to search the southern Indian Ocean, offering to pay up to $70 million if the plane was found, but it failed on two attempts. A subsequent search in the southern Indian Ocean, coordinated by Malaysia, Australia and China, based on automated data from Inmarsat satellites and the plane, also yielded no positive results.

In November, Ocean Infinity proposed to the Malaysian government to restart the search, stressing that the government would not lose money if the operation ended without finding the plane. An unnamed source told The Straits Times that the period from November to March is the best time to start the search, as the southern hemisphere's summer seas are calmer than the fierce storms of winter.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/malaysia-bat-den-xanh-cho-ke-hoach-tim-kiem-may-bay-mh370-185241220151851962.htm