The Malaysian government says it has agreed in principle to resume research into a passenger plane that disappeared ten years ago in one of aviation's biggest mysteries.
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared in March 2014 while en route to Beijing, China, from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with 239 people on board.
Efforts to locate the wreckage of the Boeing 777 have failed over the years and hundreds of families of those on board remain haunted by the tragedy.
On Friday, Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke said cabinet had approved in principle a $70 million (£56 million) deal with US marine exploration company Ocean Infinity to find the plane.
Under a “no find, no fee” deal, Ocean Infinity will only be paid when the wreck is found.
In 2018, a search for the wreck of MH370 by Ocean Infinity in similar conditions ended unsuccessfully after three months.
A multinational effort that cost $150m (£120m) ended in 2017 after two years navigating vast waters. The governments of the three countries involved – Malaysia, Australia and China – said the search would only resume “if new credible evidence emerges” about the plane's location.
Although the government had “in principle” accepted Ocean Infinity's offer, Loke said negotiations on the specific terms of the deal were still ongoing and would be finalized early next year.
The new research will cover an area of 15,000 km² in the southern Indian Ocean, based on new data that Kuala Lumpur has deemed “credible”, the minister said.
“We hope this period will be positive,” Loke said, adding that the discovery of the wreckage would provide closure for the families of those on board.
Relatives of MH370 passengers have welcomed the Malaysian government's approval of new research.
“I'm so happy with the news… (It) sounds like the best Christmas present ever,” Jacquita Gonzales, the wife of MH370 flight supervisor Patrick Gomes, told the New Straits Times.
“This announcement brings mixed emotions: hope, gratitude and sadness. After almost 11 years, the uncertainty and pain of not having answers has been incredibly difficult for us,” Intan Maizura Othaman also told the newspapers. Her husband, Mohd Hazrin Mohamed Hasnan, was a cabin crew member.
Jiang Hui, whose mother was on the plane, told the Reuters news agency that the Malaysian government needed to take a “more open approach” to the research to allow more players to take part.
In a statement, Oliver Plunkett, CEO of Ocean Infinity, said the Malaysian government's decision was “great news”, adding: “We look forward to sharing further updates in the new year, a once we have finalized the details and the team is ready to go.”
Flight MH370 took off from Kuala Lumpur in the early hours of March 8, 2014. It lost communication with air traffic control less than an hour after takeoff and radar showed it had deviated from its planned flight path.
Investigators generally agree that the plane crashed somewhere in the southern Indian Ocean, although it is unclear why it happened.
Debris, probably that of the plane, washed up on the coast of the Indian Ocean in the years following the disappearance.
Many conspiracy theories have arisen around the plane's disappearance, from speculation that the pilot deliberately brought the plane down to claims that it was shot down by a foreign army.
A 2018 investigation into the plane's disappearance found that the plane's controls were likely deliberately manipulated to throw it off course – but drew no conclusions about who was behind it.
Investigators said at the time that “the answer can only be conclusive if the wreckage is found.”
