The search for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane is back on, more than a decade after it vanished.
Malaysia’s transport ministry said in a release on December 3 that it would resume the search for MH370 on December 30. This is nearly 12 years after the Boeing 777 aircraft, carrying 239 people from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, went missing on March 8, 2014.
It said Ocean Infinity, a US and UK-based marine robotics company that conducted the search in 2018, would take charge of this latest round of search efforts.
“Ocean Infinity has confirmed with the Government of Malaysia that it will recommence seabed search operations for a total of 55 days, to be conducted intermittently,” the transport ministry release said.
It said that the search would be carried out in a “targeted area assessed to have the highest probability of locating the aircraft.”
The targeted area lies in the southern Indian Ocean, the release said.
“The latest development underscores the Government of Malaysia’s commitment in providing closure to the families affected by this tragedy,” the release added.
This is not the first time the search has been restarted since the tragedy in March 2014. Following the plane’s disappearance, search operations continued for over four years.
Ocean Infinity led the search in 2018, but discontinued it after being unable to locate the aircraft. Last December, the Malaysian government promised to pay the company $70 million if it found the plane.
In February, Malaysia’s transport minister, Anthony Loke, told the press that the search would start again. However, he said in April that the search was suspended because of poor weather conditions and would only restart at the end of the year, per a report by Reuters.
