The Malaysian Government has specified that the operation, proposed by Ocean Infinity, will follow the “no find, no fee” principle. Investigations carried out between 2014 and 2018 led to nothing. Today, the British robotics company says it wants to probe 15 square kilometers in the southern Indian Ocean.
Kuala Lumpur () – It is still considered the biggest unsolved mystery in world aviation. On March 8, 2014, Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 bound for Beijing, after taking off from Kuala Lumpur airport, never arrived at its destination. Along with the aircraft, the 239 people on board, mostly Chinese citizens, also disappeared.
Ten years later, Transport Minister Anthony Loke declared at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur that the Malaysian government had accepted the proposal of the Southampton-based robotics company Ocean Infinity for a new search mission for the plane. , stressing that it would be based on the principle of “if it is not found, it is not paid”. This means that the government will not pay the company anything if the plane is not found. If not, however, $70 million will be paid.
According to the investigations carried out so far, the Boeing 777 would have made an unscheduled detour in the South China Sea before heading to the Andaman Sea. It would then fly over the airspace of the Indonesian island of Sumatra and finally disappear into the Indian Ocean. In the search that began in 2014 – the most expensive in the history of aviation – 26 Asian nations participated, but four years later, on May 29, 2018, it was officially declared over.
“The company’s proposal is credible and deserves further consideration by the Government,” Loke said. Ocean Infinity, based on recent data analysis, has proposed a new survey in an area of 15 thousand square kilometers in the southern Indian Ocean.
The minister stressed that the contract is being reviewed by lawyers, and that the search will begin once both parties sign the agreement, which will last 18 months. “The best period for the search in the area is between January and April of next year, so we will try to sign the agreement as soon as possible,” the minister continued. «According to the terms and conditions, it has to be credible. “There is a very specific definition of what constitutes a wreck,” he added, specifying that the British company feels “safe”, while for the Malaysian Government it is about “our responsibility and our commitment to the families.”
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