Malaysia Announces Search for Missing Flight MH370 to Restart in Late December

Malaysia’s transport ministry announced on Wednesday that the search for the long-missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 will resume at the end of December, more than a decade after the aircraft disappeared.

The Boeing 777, carrying 239 people, vanished from radar screens on 8 March 2014 while travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, becoming one of aviation’s greatest and most enduring mysteries.

Two-thirds of the passengers were Chinese nationals, while the remainder included Malaysians, Indonesians and Australians, as well as Indian, American, Dutch and French citizens.

Despite what became the largest search operation in aviation history, the aircraft has never been located.

Kuala Lumpur said in a statement that it “wishes to update that the deep-sea search for the missing wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 will be resuming on 30 December 2025.”

Maritime exploration company Ocean Infinity will conduct the search “in a targeted area assessed to have the highest probability of locating the aircraft”, the ministry said.

The latest search in the southern Indian Ocean had been suspended in April as it was “not the season”.

It was carried out on a “no find, no fee” basis, similar to Ocean Infinity’s previous effort, meaning the government would only pay if the company finds the aircraft.

Ocean Infinity, which operates from Britain and the United States, led an unsuccessful search in 2018 before agreeing to undertake a new mission this year.

An initial Australian-led search had covered 120,000 square kilometres (46,300 square miles) of the Indian Ocean over three years, but found almost no trace of the aircraft apart from a few pieces of debris.

The ministry said the renewed effort demonstrates its commitment to “providing closure to the families affected by the tragedy”.

Relatives of the victims had expressed hope in February that a new search could finally yield answers.

Khaborwala/SS