- Drew Berquist - https://www.drewberquist.com -

Search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 to Resume Nearly 11 Years After Disappearance

Malaysia will restart the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 on Dec. 30, the country’s Transport Ministry announced Wednesday, marking the first renewed effort in years to locate the aircraft that vanished in 2014, as reported [1] by Fox News.

The ministry said that Texas-based marine robotics company Ocean Infinity is preparing a 55-day deep-sea search in the southern Indian Ocean.

The Associated Press reported that the company will focus on targeted areas identified as having the highest likelihood of locating the missing plane.

Flight 370, a Boeing 777, disappeared on March 8, 2014, shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur en route to Beijing.

The plane lost contact with Malaysian air traffic control approximately 90 seconds after leaving Malaysian airspace and vanished with all 239 passengers.

Satellite data later showed that the aircraft deviated from its planned route and headed south over the Indian Ocean, where it is believed to have crashed.

Malaysia gave its final approval for the search in March under a “no-find, no fee” arrangement.

Under the agreement, Ocean Infinity will receive $70 million only if the aircraft wreckage is discovered within the designated 5,800-square-mile search zone.

Previous multinational search efforts recovered pieces of debris that washed ashore on the east African coast and on islands in the Indian Ocean, but the primary wreckage has never been located.

Ocean Infinity conducted an independent search in 2018 that did not locate the aircraft. Earlier this year, the company’s CEO, Oliver Plunkett, said technological improvements had strengthened their ability to search more effectively.

Ocean Infinity is expected to deploy its advanced autonomous underwater vehicles when the new mission begins at the end of December.

Fox News Digital has contacted Ocean Infinity for additional comment.