One of aviation’s greatest mysteries, the Indonesian government claims it has reached an agreement in principle to return the search for a customer aircraft that vanished ten years ago.
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared in March 2014 while on its way to Beijing, China, from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia with 239 people on board.
Over the years, efforts to find the shipwreck of the Boeing 777 have failed, and lots of people of the passengers still remain in the dark about the drama.
On Friday, Malaysia’s transport minister Anthony Loke said the cabinet approved in principle a$ 70m ( £56m ) deal with US-based marine exploration firm Ocean Infinity to find the aircraft.
Under a” no find, no charge” design, Ocean Infinity may get paid only when the aircraft is found.
After three times, Ocean Infinity’s search for the MH370 aircraft under similar conditions failed.
A multinational effort that cost$ 150m ( £120m ) ended in 2017 after two years of scouring vast waters. The governments of the three nations involved- Malaysia, Australia and China- said the research would only be resumed” really trustworthy fresh proof emerge” of the aircraft’s location.
Loke said negotiations over certain terms of the deal were still being held up and would be finalized early next year, even though the state has “in theory” accepted Ocean Infinity’s provide.
The new research will include a 15, 000 sq km piece in the southern Indian Ocean, based on new information that Kuala Lumpur found to be” credible”, the minister said.
” We hope this time may be good,” said Loke, adding that finding the wreckage may bring peace to the lives of the passengers ‘ families.
Friends of people on MH370 welcomed the Indonesian government’s acceptance of a new research.
” I am so happy for the news …]It ] feels like the best Christmas present ever”, Jacquita Gonzales, the wife of MH370 inflight supervisor Patrick Gomes, told the New Straits Times.
” This statement stirs mixed feelings- hope, love, and pain. For almost 11 years, we have been dealing with a lot of uncertainty and pain because we haven’t had any responses,” Intan Maizura Othaman added to the statement. Her father, Mohd Hazrin Mohamed Hasnan, was a member of the house staff.
Jiang Hui, the mother of the passenger, claimed the Indonesian government needs to conduct the research with more openness in order to attract more participants.
Ocean Infinity CEO Oliver Plunkett called the Indonesian government’s decision “great reports” and added,” We look forward to sharing additional improvements in the new year once we’ve finalized the details and the group gets ready to go.”
In the first days of 8 March 2014, Flight MH370 descended from Kuala Lumpur. Less than an hours after takeoff, it lost contact with air traffic control, and radar revealed that it had deviated from its intended flight path.
Although it’s not clear why the aircraft crashed in the southern Indian Ocean, researchers generally concur that it did so.
Pieces of dust, believed to be from the aircraft, have washed up on shores of the Indian Ocean in the years after the disappearance.
The departure of the aircraft has spawned a number of conspiracies, ranging from claims that the captain had purposefully crashed it to those that claim that it was shot down by a foreign government.
A 2018 research into the departure of the aircraft revealed that the controls on board had probably been purposefully altered, which made no assumptions about who was responsible for it.
According to the researchers,” the answer can only be compelling if the aircraft is discovered.”