Malaysia agrees to resume search for MH370

Kuala Lumpur, Dec. 20 (IANS) The Malaysian government has agreed in principle to resume the search for Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook said on Friday.

Loke told a press briefing that the cabinet has agreed in principle to accept the proposal from exploration firm Ocean Infinity to proceed with seabed search operations to locate MH370 in a new area estimated at 15,000 square kilometres in the southern Indian Ocean.

“This endeavour will be based on the ‘no find, no fee’ principle. Under this principle, the Malaysian government will not be required to pay Ocean Infinity unless the wreckage of the aircraft is discovered,” he said.

Loke also said the proposed new search area, identified by the firm, is credible based on the latest information and data analysis conducted by experts and researchers, Xinhua news agency reported.

The disappearance of MH370 was a tragic incident that occurred on March 8, 2014, when the Boeing 777, en route from Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia to Beijing Capital International Airport in China, vanished from radar screens with all 239 on board.

The families of those on board the ill-fated flight have been urging the government in Kuala Lumpur to begin a new search for the aircraft.

The Malaysian government had earlier also engaged US seabed exploration firm Ocean Infinity to search for the aircraft in the southern Indian Ocean, offering to pay up to $70 million if it found the plane. But, its operation came up short.

At a memorial event a few years ago, Malaysian Transport Minister had vowed not to “close the book” on MH370, adding that due consideration would be given to future searches if there was “new and credible information” on the aircraft’s potential location.

Debris confirmed or believed to be from the MH370 aircraft has washed up along the African coast and on islands in the Indian Ocean.

Malaysian investigators previously drew no conclusion about what happened aboard the flight, but did not rule out the possibility that the aircraft had been deliberately taken off course.

The crew of the Boeing 777-200ER registered as 9M-MRO, last communicated with Air Traffic Control (ATC) around 38 minutes after takeoff when the flight was over the South China Sea.

The aircraft was lost from ATC radar screens minutes later, but was tracked by military radar for another hour, deviating westward from its planned flight path, crossing the Malay Peninsula and the Andaman Sea.

The disappearance of flight 370 was the deadliest incident involving a Boeing 777 and the deadliest in Malaysia Airlines’ history until it was surpassed in both regards by Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which was shot down while flying over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014.

–IANS

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