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Malaysia has approved a one-year extension of its contract with marine survey firm Ocean Infinity to resume deep-water searching for the missing flight MH370, keeping alive a rare, conditional plan to locate wreckage more than a decade after the Boeing 777 vanished. The decision, announced by the transport minister, aims to restart work in the southern Indian Ocean during the calmer months and offers renewed hope for families still waiting for answers.
What the government approved
The Cabinet cleared a continuation of a **no-find, no-fee** agreement with **Ocean Infinity** that now runs through June 30 next year, the transport ministry said. The arrangement means the company will only collect the contracted fee if the aircraft debris is recovered.
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Under the extension, the company can finish searching a remaining patch of the seabed measuring roughly 7,428.54 square kilometres, after temporarily reassigning ships and underwater vehicles to other commercial jobs earlier this year.
Key facts at a glance
- Flight: MH370, Boeing 777, disappeared on March 8, 2014 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.
- Search area remaining: about 7,428.54 sq km in the southern Indian Ocean.
- Earlier commitment: Malaysia signed Ocean Infinity last year to survey a roughly 15,000 sq km zone; the company’s fee is contingent — up to $70 million only if wreckage is found.
- Operational window: vessels are slated to return to the mission between November and April when sea conditions are most favourable.
Why this still matters
For relatives of those aboard, any targeted search carries emotional and practical weight: locating the fuselage could answer long-standing questions about the aircraft’s last moments and provide forensic evidence. Official investigators have also said definitive wreckage would be crucial to closing the technical investigation into the disappearance.
From an operational perspective, the renewed search will test the capabilities of modern underwater robotics and mapping methods in deep, remote ocean environments — and it will do so under a financial model that limits public expenditure unless the mission succeeds.
Background: what previous searches found — and did not
International search efforts conducted soon after the disappearance covered large stretches of the southern Indian Ocean without locating the aircraft. Over the years, fragments consistent with Boeing 777 components washed ashore on the East African coast and islands in the Indian Ocean, providing intermittent clues but not the main wreckage.
A privately funded Ocean Infinity expedition in 2018 also scanned extensive areas without confirming the plane’s final resting place. Investigators have relied on satellite-derived analyses that placed the aircraft on a southerly path before communications ceased, but key questions remain unresolved.
Next steps and timeline
The ministry said Ocean Infinity’s vessels are expected to be redeployed to the MH370 search between November and April, when calmer weather and sea states offer the best chance for effective deep-water surveying and recovery work. The company will be able to resume operations in the designated zone to complete the outstanding 7,428.54 sq km of seabed coverage before the extended contract expires next June.
Authorities emphasized the move as part of a continued effort to provide closure for families, while keeping public spending tied to tangible results under the conditional contract terms.
