Malaysia may begin a renewed search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, the transport minister has said, as the 10th anniversary of its disappearance approaches.
“The Malaysian government is committed to the search, and the search must go on,” Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke said on Sunday at an event to mark the disappearance of the Boeing 777 on March 8, 2014.
The flight carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members disappeared on a night flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, the Chinese capital, in what has become one of the biggest aviation-related mysteries in history.
Loke said US seabed exploration firm Ocean Infinity had made its latest search proposal after two failed attempts at finding the plane.
The transport minister is hoping to engage with Australia in cooperating in the search once Ocean Infinity’s “no find, no fee” proposal is approved by Malaysia’s cabinet.
Ocean Infinity had last attempted to find the missing plane in 2018, with Malaysia offering up to $70m if the firm had found it.
In 2017, Malaysia, China and Australia also ended a two-year underwater hunt that cost 200 million Australian dollars ($130.7m).
VPR Nathan, whose wife Anne Daisy was on the flight, said Ocean Infinity’s proposal was welcome.
“We want the search to carry on, but we also have to be realistic. We cannot expect the government to spend billions [on the search],” Nathan said.
Jacquita Gomes, whose flight attendant husband was on the plane, was elated about the possibility that the search might resume.
“I’m on top of the world,” 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.”
Jiang Hui, a Chinese national whose mother was on the missing plane, called on Malaysia to provide relatives with the latest information.
“As long as there is communication, we can avoid misunderstanding,” said Jiang, who is part of a lawsuit filed in China demanding compensation over the incident, for which hearings began in November.
“No matter if it is 10 years, 20 years or more, as long as we are still alive … we will not cease to press for the truth. We believe the truth will eventually come to light,” said Bai Zhong, another Chinese national, whose wife was on the plane.
The last communication from MH370 was when pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah said goodbye to Malaysian air traffic control and moved into Vietnamese airspace, giving no indication that anything was amiss.
The plane, whose transponder was turned off, then apparently turned around and flew back over the north of Malaysia and then south into the Indian Ocean.
A multinational search force, including Malaysia, Australia, the United States and China scoured the sea for wreckage, and two weeks after the plane went missing then Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced the aircraft had “ended” its journey in the remote far south of the Indian Ocean.
A 2018 report into MH370’s disappearance found failings by air traffic control and said the plane’s course had been changed manually.
Some debris from the plane has washed up along the coast of Africa and on islands in the Indian Ocean, including a 2-metre (6.6-foot) wing part known as a flaperon.
