Families of those aboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 have urged the Malaysian government to extend a contract with deep-sea exploration firm Ocean Infinity to continue searching for the aircraft, which disappeared 12 years ago. The Boeing 777 was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew when it vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on 8 March 2014, becoming one of the world's enduring aviation mysteries.
Multiple search operations have been conducted in the southern Indian Ocean since then, but all have proved fruitless. In March last year, Malaysia agreed to allow Ocean Infinity to resume the hunt under a 'no find, no fee' principle, with the firm to be paid $70m only if the wreckage was successfully located.
However, Malaysia's Air Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) said on Sunday that operations had not yielded any findings so far, after two search phases covering 28 days and about 7,571 sq km of seabed. Operations were periodically disrupted by weather and sea conditions, with the second phase ending on 23 January. 'The government remains committed to keeping the families informed and will continue to provide updates as appropriate,' the AAIB said.
Voice370, a group representing families of those onboard, said it was unlikely for Ocean Infinity to resume the search before its contract ends in June, due to the coming winter months in the southern hemisphere and deteriorating sea conditions. It urged the government to grant any request for Ocean Infinity to extend its agreement, as well as expand the same terms to other interested exploration firms. 'A simple addendum extending the contract period without altering the core terms of the agreement would allow the search to continue without delay,' it said.
Ocean Infinity had conducted prior searches for the plane but failed to find substantive wreckage. Malaysian investigators in a 2018 report 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.
