Missing since 2014

New search for missing flight MH370

The deep-sea supply vessel Armada 78 06 is to track down the missing aircraft.

(Bild: Ocean Infinity)

Almost eleven years after the mysterious disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, a new search operation for the wreckage has begun in the Indian Ocean. Over the next few weeks, the specialist company Ocean Infinity intends to search the seabed for traces of the missing Boeing 777 using the deep-sea supply vessel Armada 78 06 and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs).

The search is taking place around 1500 kilometers off the coast of Perth in Western Australia. Ocean Infinity, which is based in the USA and the UK, intends to concentrate on an area of around 15,000 square kilometers and four hotspots where researchers believe the wreckage is most likely to be found. Interested parties were able to track the exact position of Armada 78 06 on tracking sites on the internet.

The plane had suddenly disappeared from radar screens on March 8, 2014 on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing and veered off course for an unknown reason. So far, only a few dozen pieces of wreckage have washed up on various coasts. There is still no trace of the main fuselage of the plane, the 239 occupants from 14 countries or the flight recorder. The disappearance of the plane is one of the greatest mysteries in aviation history.

Wreckage that washed up on the shore was exhibited at a memorial event to mark the tenth anniversary of the disappearance of flight MH370.

(Bild: AFP )

"No find, no payment"
The Malaysian Ministry of Transport had already announced last year that the search for the plane was to be resumed. Thanks to the latest research results and state-of-the-art technologies, progress has been made in solving the mystery.

Ocean Infinity negotiated a "no find, no pay" deal with the government in Kuala Lumpur in December and will only receive money for the mission if the plane is found. The company was already part of an earlier search in 2018, which was unsuccessful. The current search area is said to include regions that were not previously covered.

Successful search for submarines
The underwater vehicles would be traveling at a depth of around four kilometers in complete darkness - which is why the mission could take several weeks, 9News further reported. If the wreckage and the black box (flight recorder) are found, there could finally be answers to the fate of the occupants, for which the relatives have been waiting for so many years.

Ocean Infinity has already been successful in other search operations, including the discovery of the Argentinean submarine ARA San Juan off the coast of Patagonia in 2018. In 2019, the company discovered the Minerve submarine, which had been missing in the north-western Mediterranean for more than 50 years.