PUTRAJAYA, March 19 — The Cabinet today officially granted approval to the terms of the service agreement with Ocean Infinity (United Kingdom) to find the wreckage of MH370, said Transport Minister Anthony Loke.
Loke said with this final approval, the ministry is set to sign the deal with the marine robotics company on behalf of the government.
“This paves the way for Ocean Infinity to proceed with seabed searches to locate the wreckage of flight MH370 in a new area estimated at 15,000sqkm in the southern Indian Ocean,” he said in a statement today.
It is a no-find-no-fee search, where the Malaysian government will only pay Ocean Infinity if the wreckage is discovered, with a success fee amounting to US$70 million (RM310.5 million).
“The government is committed to continuing the search operation and providing closure for the families of MH370 passengers,” he added.
Previously, Ocean Infinity conducted a search for the missing aircraft from January 2018, covering more than 112,000sqkm of the southern Indian Ocean seabed before ending the mission on May 29, 2018.
On March 8, 2014, flight MH370 departed Kuala Lumpur for Beijing with 227 passengers and 12 crew members. However, the aircraft vanished.
— Bernama
