The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 continues now that an oceanic robotics company has secured a new contract with the Malaysian government.
Texas-based Ocean Infinity and Malaysian cabinet ministers have agreed to a “no-find, no-fee” contract, Transport Minister Anthony Loke said on Wednesday.
This means the Malaysian government would pay Ocean Infinity $70 million, but only if it successfully finds the plane wreckage, according to the Associated Press.
“The government is committed to continuing the search operation and providing closure for the families of the passengers of flight MH370,” Loke said in a statement.
MOT : The Cabinet has given the final go ahead to Ocean Infinity for the search of #MH370 wreckage. Under the terms, Ocean Infinity will get paid USD 70 million if the wreckage is found in the new search area estimated at 15,000 sq km in the Southern Indian Ocean. pic.twitter.com/MHUAdcB2bx
— Melissa Goh (@MelGohCNA) March 19, 2025
The special contract would allow the company to search a new area of the Indian Ocean, covering 15,000 square kilometers (5,800 square miles).
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 crashed on March 8, 2014.
Departing from Malaysia’s capitol, Kuala Lumpur, the Boeing aircraft and its 239 passengers would never reach Beijing, China.
Do you think this search will find the plane?
Shortly after takeoff, the plane mysteriously vanished from radar.
From that point, satellite data showed the aircraft moving from its original flight path and flying south toward the southern Indian Ocean, where it likely crashed.
Malaysian government announces it will resume the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which went missing in 2014 with 239 people on board
UK-based Ocean Infinity, marine robotics company, will resume the search for the missing plane https://t.co/NccwHA7CXU pic.twitter.com/v1i6P8Ny5Q
— Anadolu English (@anadoluagency) March 20, 2025
An initial search for the missing aircraft and its passengers yielded little. Some debris was discovered on the shores of East Africa and on some island beaches in the Indian Ocean, but little else.
In 2018, Ocean Infinity tried a private search yet failed to find the wreckage.
But CEO Oliver Punkett said the company has since improved its technology and has further collaborated with experts to determine an ideal search area.
Loke said the contract hasn’t been finalized yet but soon will be.
It’s not clear how long the search contract would be valid, but Loke had previously said it would cover an 18-month period, according to Reuters.
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