US firm to resume search for missing Malaysian plane

Malaysia said on Wednesday that it has reached an agreement with American firm Ocean Infinity to resume search for the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which mysteriously disappeared on March 8, 2014 with 239 people on board.

"Ocean Infinity will undertake search operation to locate flight MH370 an an area of 25,000 square kilometre... The search operation is scheduled to commence in mid-January 2018," said Malaysia's Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai at a press conference, Efe reported.

Lai said the company has been given a deadline of 90 days to complete the search and will not charge any fee if it is unable to locate the remains of the flight that is believed to have crashed in the Indian Ocean.

"As we speak, the vessel, Seabed Constructor, is currently on her way to the search area, taking advantage of the favourable weather condition in the South Indian Ocean," said Lai, according to an official statement.

"It is my hope that we will find the answer that we seek for nearly four years and bring some closure to this unfortunate incident," he added.

The Beijing-bound MH370 disappeared from the radar on March 8, 2014, some 40 minutes after taking off from Kuala Lumpur, reportedly after someone deliberately turned off its communication system and changed the route, according to official investigation.

On board were 239 people, including 154 Chinese, 50 Malaysians (12 forming the crew), seven Indonesians, six Australians, five Indians, four Frenchmen, three Americans, two Canadians, two Iranians, two New Zealanders, two Ukrainians, a Dutch and a Russian.

A search mission -- that was suspended on January 17, 2017 -- unsuccessfully combed an area of 120,000 square kilometres in the Indian Ocean for the remains of the plane.

Parts of the MH370 were recovered from Mozambique, South Africa, Mauritius, the French Reunion Islands and Pemba (Tanzania).

--IANS

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