A renewed search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has commenced over ten years after the aircraft vanished, adding another chapter to one of aviation’s most perplexing mysteries.

The maritime exploration company Ocean Infinity has officially resumed the search effort, as announced by Malaysia’s transport minister, Anthony Loke, on Tuesday.

Loke informed the media that the contractual arrangements between the Malaysian government and Ocean Infinity are still being finalized. He expressed appreciation for the company’s initiative to deploy their vessels to begin the search for the aircraft, which disappeared in March 2014.

The minister noted that discussions regarding the duration of the search were ongoing, and he did not disclose when exactly the British firm had resumed its operations.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 lost contact with air traffic control shortly after its departure from Kuala Lumpur airport in March 2014, en route to Beijing. The flight carried 12 crew members and 227 passengers, and the wreckage has never been located, leaving the cause of its disappearance a mystery.

“It is a relief to know that the search is picking up once again after such a long break,” said Grace Nathan, 36, a Malaysian whose mother was on board the ill-fated flight, in an interview with AFP.

Jaquita Gonzales, aged 62, and wife of flight supervisor Patrick Gomes, hopes that the renewed search efforts will provide her family with much-needed closure. “We just want to understand where it is and what happened,” she remarked. “The memories feel like they happened yesterday, they remain vivid in our minds.”

Tracking service Marinetraffic.com indicated that the Ocean Infinity vessel was operating in the southern Indian Ocean as of February 23.

In December 2024, Malaysia agreed to initiate a new search, with Ocean Infinity undertaking the mission on a “no-find-no-fee” basis. Loke announced that an 18-month contract would be signed, allowing Ocean Infinity to receive $70 million if the aircraft’s wreckage is found and verified. The search area will span an estimated 15,000 square kilometers, according to Loke.

On the 10-year anniversary of its disappearance, on March 8, 2024, Australia extended support to Malaysia for the renewed search effort. Eight Australians were passengers on the flight. However, a representative from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau stated that Australian authorities would not be actively engaged in the new search.

Flight MH370 was a Boeing 777-200 that departed Kuala Lumpur at 12:41 AM local time on March 8, 2014, heading for Beijing. The aircraft was last detected on military radar at 2:14 AM, flying west over the Strait of Malacca. Approximately 30 minutes later, the airline reported losing contact with the plane, which was expected to land around 6:30 AM.

The families of the passengers continue to seek answers regarding the fate of their loved ones. Some traveled to Madagascar in 2016 to search the beaches for debris, as fragments of the plane had been discovered

In January 2017, after nearly three years of searching 120,000 square kilometers of ocean, Australian authorities concluded the underwater search for the wreckage. On October 3 of the same year, Australian investigators released their final report regarding the disappearance, lamenting the lack of closure for victims’ families as a “profound tragedy” and “almost unfathomable” in today’s era.

Questions remain unanswered, including why the plane made a controlled turn off its flight path toward the Indian Ocean, and why two crucial communication and tracking systems on board failed to function.

Theories surrounding the aircraft’s disappearance include speculations that the pilot “went rogue,” instances of sabotage, and claims that the flight was either downed or covertly landed by a rogue government agency due to sensitive cargo or a politically important passenger.

Data retrieved from a DIY flight simulator belonging to the pilot, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, indicates that a route to the southern Indian Ocean had been plotted.

Ocean Infinity, which operates out of both the UK and the US, previously conducted an unsuccessful search in 2018.

With Agence France-Presse