MH370 Search Resuming, 10+ Years After Mysterious Disappearance

There are plans to resume the search for Malaysia Airlines’ missing Boeing 777. Whether search parties have better luck this time around remains to be seen…

MH370 is modern aviation’s greatest mystery

Arguably the most mysterious commercial air disaster ever is what happened to MH370, the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER that went missing back in March 2014. The plane was carrying 239 people from Kuala Lumpur (KUL) to Beijing (PEK), when it disappeared from radar shortly after takeoff.

Aviation is incredibly safe, and accidents are super rare, so it’s bad enough when that happens. But what takes this to the next level is that the plane was never found. When a plane disappears from radar, that typically tells you where the plane went down. However, that wasn’t the case here — how is it possible for a 777 to simply go missing?

We’ve seen all kinds of theories as to what could have happened, and a 2023 Netflix show even took a close look at this. Was there some catastrophic technical failure? Was it a carefully planned terror plot by the captain? While small parts of the plane’s wreckage have been found, a vast majority of the plane remains unaccounted for.

For three years following the accident, we saw a global investigation into this, which cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and whereby 120,000 square kilometers of the sea were searched. The search was officially called off in early 2017. However, in 2018, we saw US seabed exploration firm Ocean Infinity resume the search for a few months on a “no find, no fee” basis, as part of a contract with the Malaysian government.

However, for well over five years now, no serious effort has been put into finding wreckage. Fortunately that’s likely to change shortly…

Malaysia approves $70 million MH370 search by Ocean Infinity

The Malaysian government has today announced that it has reached an agreement in principle to resume the search for MH370. The country’s transport minister, Anthony Loke, revealed that the government has reached a $70 million agreement with Ocean Infinity, the same company that has been involved in the search in the past.

Once again, this will be done on a “no find, no fee” basis, with Ocean Infinity only being paid if substantial wreckage is found. Note that while the government has in principle accepted Ocean Infinity’s offer, negotiations over specific terms are ongoing, and are expected to be finalized in early 2025.

Obviously Ocean Infinity must be pretty confident it’ll have success, or else it wouldn’t be pouring its own money into this. What has changed since the last time a search took place? Ocean Infinity plans to search a 15,000 square kilometer patch in the southern Indian Ocean, and that’s based on new data that the Malaysian government has found to be “credible.”

I very much hope that this actually happens, and that wreckage can be found. The families of the victims deserve closure. For that matter, the aviation community at large can’t settle for a 777 just going missing without a trace.

Interestingly, back in 2018, Ocean Infinity was also on a contract where it would’ve been paid up to $70 million if the wreckage was found, so this must be the only aspect of the society where there hasn’t been any inflation since well before the pandemic. When Ocean Infinity called off its search back in May 2018, the company’s CEO said the following:

I would firstly like to extend the thoughts of everyone at Ocean Infinity to the families of those who have lost loved ones on MH370. Part of our motivation for renewing the search was to try to provide some answers to those affected. It is therefore with a heavy heart that we end our current search without having achieved that aim.

We are most grateful to the Government of Malaysia for entertaining our offer and affording us the opportunity to recommence the search. The commitment that the new government in Malaysia has made to prioritising finding MH370 was very good to hear.

We want to thank the team onboard Seabed Constructor who have worked tirelessly and all the many companies, organizations and individuals whose support, guidance and advice were invaluable. The staff at the ATSB whose dedication to finding the plane has been unwavering deserve our particular gratitude.

Whilst clearly the outcome so far is extremely disappointing, as a company, we are truly proud of what we have achieved both in terms of the quality of data we’ve produced and the speed with which we covered such a vast area. There simply has not been a subsea search on this scale carried out as efficiently or as effectively ever before.

We sincerely hope that we will be able to again offer our services in the search for MH370 in future.

Bottom line

The search for MH370 is expected to resume in 2025, as the Malaysian government is finalizing a contract with Ocean Infinity. The $70 million “no, find, no fee” deal would see the company only being paid if substantial wreckage is found.

This is the same company that was involved in the 2018 search. This search will be focused on a 15,000 square kilometer patch in the southern Indian Ocean, and there’s apparently new “credible” data suggesting that this is where the wreckage may be. I’m crossing my fingers this proves successful, because the families of the victims deserve closure.

What do you make of the search for MH370 resuming?