Fresh hope for families of people on vanished Malaysia Airlines flight MH370

The fate of the aircraft remains a mystery - and a source for multiple conspiracy theories.

Hope has been given to the families of the people on board Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which disappeared a decade ago.

After perhaps the most extensive search in aviation history, the fate of the aircraft remains a mystery – and a source for multiple conspiracy theories.

As the 10th anniversary approaches, Malaysia is pushing for a renewed search for the plane.

Flight MH370, a Boeing 777 carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew, vanished while en route from the capital Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014.

Malaysia, along with Australia and China, ended in January 2017 a two-year, $130-million underwater hunt for the aircraft, with no answers.

But the country’s transport minister Anthony Loke has said US seabed exploration firm Ocean Infinity had been invited to discuss its latest search proposal after two previous failed attempts.

He said during a remembrance event on Sunday: ‘The Malaysian government is committed to the search (for MH370) and the search must go on.’

If the evidence is credible, the politician stressed, he will seek Cabinet’s approval to sign a new contract to resume the search.

But he declined to reveal the fee proposed by Ocean Infinity if it finds the plane, saying it is subject to negotiation.

He said cost is not an issue and that he doesn’t foresee any hindrances for the search.

Loke’s response sparked tears of joy in some family members at the memorial, held in a mall in a Kuala Lumpur suburb.

‘I’m on top of the world,’ said Jacquita Gomes, whose husband was a flight attendant on the plane.

‘She said she is thankful that she may now have a chance for full closure and to say a final goodbye,’ she said.

‘We have been on a roller coaster for the last 10 years. If it is not found, I hope that it will continue with another search.’

Malaysia engaged Ocean Infinity in 2018 to comb through the southern Indian Ocean, offering to pay up to $70 million if it found the plane.

Meanwhile, prime minister Anwar Ibrahim said: ‘We have taken the position that if there is a compelling case, evidence that it needs to be re-opened, we’re certainly happy to re-open.

‘Whatever needs to be done must be done.’

V.P.R. Nathan, a member of the Voice MH370 next-of-kin group, said the Texas-based Ocean Infinity initially planned a search last year but it was delayed by the delivery of a new fleet. It is now on track to resume the hunt, he said.

Ocean Infinity CEO Oliver Punkett told the New Straits Times that the company had improved its technology since 2018.

‘We now feel in a position to be able to return to the search for MH370,’ he told the English-language daily.

‘We’ve been working with many experts, some outside of Ocean Infinity, to continue analyzing the data in the hopes of narrowing the search area down to one in which success becomes potentially achievable.’

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