Maritime exploration firm Ocean Infinity has resumed the search for MH370, almost 11 years after the Malaysia Airlines flight disappeared.
The 8th of March 2014 saw one of the greatest mysteries in the history of modern commercial aviation. On that day, a Boeing 777 with 239 people on board vanished over the skies of Malaysia as it took off from Kuala Lumpur and made its way north, towards Vietnam and its destination in Beijing, China.
Many thought that the loss of a modern widebody like that, in the age of GPS and information technology, was impossible. But unlike early assumptions, the search for MH370 bore no fruit for over four years.
The initial surface and underwater search ended in 2017. The following year, Ocean Infinity continued an underwater search, which also ended without any positive results. To date, the only parts of the aircraft that we have are about 20 pieces of debris that washed ashore in Africa, Madagascar and other nearby areas on the west side of the Indian Ocean.
New Studies Point to New MH370 Search Area(s)
More recently, a number of researchers have proposed new areas where the flight may have ended up. At least two such studies have emerged, based either on further analysis of signals from the aircraft or on the effects of the aircraft’s flight on other radio waves.
You can check out the Mentour Pilot video near the bottom of this article for more information on those studies. More importantly, there have been calls for Ocean Infinity to resume its search in the South Indian Ocean for MH370, focusing on the areas that these studies have highlighted.
However, recent news on the matter was not encouraging. Initially, the plan was for Ocean Infinity to conduct its MH370 search on a “no find, no fee” basis. The company was negotiating this contract with the government of Malaysia.
Ocean Infinity will get $70 million if it finds the missing aircraft. Last December, the news was that the two sides had agreed on preliminary terms for this search… but no further news followed. But now, an Ocean Infinity vessel called Armada 7806 has reportedly reached the new MH370 search area and has launched its underwater search vehicles.
Malaysia’s government has welcomed this news, even though it still hasn’t finalized its contract terms with the company. Ocean Infinity’s contract is for an 18-month search.
Malaysia’s government agrees that there is a case for a new search, based on available new information. The hope is that this will finally bring much-needed closure to the thousands of relatives of the missing 239 passengers and crew of the flight.
