Malaysia is reopening the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, more than a decade after the plane's mysterious disappearance. The search beginning later this month, announced by Malaysia's Ministry of Transport, will concentrate on areas in the Indian Ocean believed to offer the best chance of finding the aircraft, though no specifics were given, per the BBC. The Boeing 777 vanished from radar on March 8, 2014, while carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Satellite data indicated the jet veered off course and flew toward the southern Indian Ocean, where it is believed to have crashed after running out of fuel.
But years of extensive searches failed to locate the plane. The renewed effort is seen as a commitment by the Malaysian government to bring closure to the families of the missing, who have spent years lobbying for the search to continue while seeking compensation from Malaysia Airlines, Boeing, Rolls-Royce, and insurers. Two-thirds of those on board were Chinese nationals.
The search will be conducted by the marine exploration firm Ocean Infinity, which led a three-month search for MH370 in 2018. The company also led the last search, which ended in April after weeks of bad weather and no discoveries. The plan had been to scour 5,800 square miles of seabed, the Guardian reports. The BBC describes the latest effort as an extension of that earlier search, to begin Dec. 30 and run for 55 days. Ocean Infinity will operate under a "no-find, no-fee" arrangement, meaning it will only collect its $70 million fee if significant wreckage is found, Al Jazeera reports.