Malaysia may reopen MH370 search pending new evidence, government ministry says
Written by ABC Audio All Rights Reserved on March 4, 2024
(NEW YORK) — Government officials in Malaysia said on Sunday they’d be open to resuming the search for Malaysian Airlines MH370 after a private company approached them about potential new evidence pointing to the location of the Boeing 777.
“The Malaysian Government’s position is consistent,” officials said in a statement. “We will commission a further search operation when new information and credible evidence is ascertained.”
The flight disappeared after taking off from Kuala Lumpur on March 8, 2014. Twelve crew members and 227 passengers were on board when the plane went missing.
The Malaysian Transportation Ministry on Sunday said it had been approached by Ocean Infinity, a Texas-based company, about reopening the search. It was not immediately clear what new information Ocean Infinity may have about the missing plane.
“[T]he Ministry of Transport are ready to invite Ocean Infinity to Malaysia to discuss the proposal of a no-fine, no-fee proposal,” the statement said. “We are waiting for Ocean Infinity to provide the suitable dates, and I will meet them any time that they are ready to come to Malaysia.”
Ocean Infinity would not comment on any specifics about the new information, but its CEO confirmed they’d submitted a proposal to the Malaysian government and said they “hope to get back to the search soon.”
“Finding MH370 and bringing some resolution for all connected with the loss of the aircraft has been a constant in our minds since we left the southern Indian Ocean in 2018,” CEO Oliver Plunkett said in a statement to ABC News. “Since then, we have focused on driving the transformation of operations at sea; innovating with technology and robotics to further advance our ocean search capabilities.”
He continued, “This search is arguably the most challenging, and indeed pertinent one out there. We’ve been working with many experts, some outside of Ocean Infinity, to continue analysing the data in the hope of narrowing the search area down to one in which success becomes potentially achievable.”
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti and Dragana Jovanovic contributed to this report.
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