- A new search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is underway in the Indian Ocean. The plane disappeared on March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board.
- This search focuses on a different part of of the southern Indian Ocean than previous searches.
- Malaysia’s transportation minister said the details of the search contract have not yet been finalized.
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A new search is now underway for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 more than a decade after it disappeared off radar with 239 people on board. The Boeing 777 vanished on March 8, 2014, while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
This isn’t the first search
Maritime exploration firm Ocean Infinity has launched its third search for the missing jet, this time in a new 5,800-square-mile area of the southern Indian Ocean.
Ocean Infinity’s last search for MH370 took place between January and May of 2018, but nothing was found.
What do we know about the search?
Malaysian Minister of Transport Anthony Loke said the contract details are still being ironed out, but Ocean Infinity is being proactive in deploying its ships. He also said that decisions on how long this new search would last have also not yet been negotiated.
As of the last Straight Arrow News report on the flight this past December, the fresh search will be done on a “no find, no fee” principle. That means the Malaysian government doesn’t have to pay Ocean Infinity if it doesn’t find anything.
If the firm does find substantive wreckage, it’ll receive a payout of $70 million.
What do we know about MH370’s disappearance?
In the more than a decade since the plane disappeared, it’s been the subject of many theories and remains one of the world’s greatest aviation mysteries.
While it’s still not known what exactly happened to the plane, a final report released in 2018 pointed to failings by air traffic control and said the course of the plane was changed manually.
