KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — The Malaysian government has agreed to extend its deep-sea search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 by another year, keeping alive the hopes of families who have waited more than a decade for answers.
The country’s Cabinet gave its approval on Friday to extend a contract with marine robotics company Ocean Infinity through June 30 of next year. Transport Minister Anthony Loke announced the decision Monday, describing it as a sign of the government’s dedication to the families affected.
“This decision is a manifestation of the government’s continuous and unwavering commitment to provide a closure for the next of kin of the passengers aboard flight MH370,” Loke said in a written statement.
The additional time will allow Ocean Infinity to finish searching the remaining 7,428.54 square kilometers — roughly 2,868 square miles — of ocean floor that has yet to be covered. The company had temporarily shifted its main search vessels to other commercial work before the extension was granted.
Flight MH370 was a Boeing 777 that vanished from radar shortly after departing on March 8, 2014. The aircraft was carrying 239 people, the majority of them Chinese nationals, on a trip from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Satellite tracking data indicated the plane deviated from its intended route and flew south toward the far reaches of the Indian Ocean, where investigators believe it went down.
A large-scale multinational search effort failed to locate the aircraft, though pieces of debris later washed up along the East African coastline and on various Indian Ocean islands. A separate private search conducted by Ocean Infinity in 2018 also came up empty.
Last year, Malaysia authorized Ocean Infinity to launch a renewed effort at a new search zone covering 15,000 square kilometers — about 5,800 square miles — in the southern Indian Ocean. Ocean Infinity, which maintains headquarters in both the United States and Britain, stands to receive $70 million only if wreckage from the plane is actually found.
Loke noted that Ocean Infinity’s vessels are expected to return to the MH370 search mission sometime between November and April of next year. That window is considered the safest and most productive period for underwater operations due to calmer sea conditions in the region.
