By Danial Azhar
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 3 (Reuters) – The search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 will resume on December 30, Malaysia’s transport ministry said on Wednesday, more than a decade after the Beijing-bound flight disappeared in one of the world’s greatest aviation mysteries.
Flight MH370, a Boeing 777, was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew when it vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in 2014. Multiple search operations for the plane have been conducted since then but all proved fruitless.
The most recent search in the southern Indian Ocean was suspended in April after just a few weeks due to poor weather conditions. Exploration firm Ocean Infinity has confirmed it would recommence seabed operations for 55 days, conducted intermittently, the transport ministry said.
“The search will be carried out in targeted area assessed to have the highest probability of locating the aircraft,” it said in a statement.
No precise location of the search area has been given.
Malaysian investigators initially did not rule out the possibility that the aircraft had been deliberately taken off course. Debris, some confirmed and some believed to be from the aircraft, has washed up along the coast of Africa and on islands in the Indian Ocean.
The resumed search will be in accordance with the terms and conditions agreed upon between the government and Ocean Infinity for restarting the MH370 wreckage search, the ministry said.
Malaysia will pay the firm $70 million if substantive wreckage is found during the search on the seabed of an area in the southern Indian Ocean covering 15,000 sq km (5,790 sq miles).
Ocean Infinity had conducted prior searches for the plane up until 2018 but failed to find substantive wreckage.
A 495-page report into the disappearance in 2018 said the Boeing 777’s controls were likely deliberately manipulated to go off course, but investigators could not determine who was responsible and stopped short of offering a conclusion on what happened, saying that depended on finding the wreckage.
Investigators have said there was nothing suspicious in the background, financial affairs, training and mental health of both the captain and co-pilot.
More than 150 Chinese passengers were on the flight. Others included 50 Malaysians as well as citizens of France, Australia, Indonesia, India, the United States, Ukraine and Canada, among others.
Relatives have demanded compensation from Malaysia Airlines, Boeing, aircraft engine maker Rolls-Royce and the Allianz insurance group, among others.
(Reporting by Danial Azhar; Editing by Martin Petty)
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