More than 10 years after its disappearance, the search is set to resume for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.
Malaysia Minister of Transport Anthony Loke announced on Friday that Malaysia has agreed to resume its search for wreckage of the missing flight, multiple outlets including Reuters reported. The Boeing 777 was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew when it vanished on its way from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Beijing, China on March 8, 2014.
Malaysia will work with robotics company Ocean Infinity for the search. Ocean Infinity, based in Austin, Texas and the United Kingdom, last searched for the plane’s wreckage in 2018. If the partnership transpires, a contract would cover an 18-month period and Ocean Infinity would be paid $70 million, only if substantial wreckage was found, Reuters reported.
A precise search location was not shared by Loke, but he confirmed that some debris, which is believed to be from the missing aircraft, has surfaced along the coast of Africa and on islands in the Indian Ocean.
What happened to MH370?
In the early morning of March 8, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 departed from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia for Beijing. Less than 30 minutes after taking off, the plane’s data reporting system shut down, but it momentarily remained on course, according to previous USA TODAY reporting. But by 40 minutes from takeoff, the plane’s transponder, which transmitted its location and altitude, shut down.
Malaysia’s Subang Air Traffic Control reported that it lost contact with the flight about two-and-a-half hours after takeoff, per pervious USA TODAY reporting. The last signal on the radar for MH370 was when it transferred into Vietnamese airspace above the Cau Mau province.
Searches for the missing flight were more consistent within the first few years of its disappearance but have trailed off with time. The last year was led by Ocean Infinity in 2018. Several countries pooled together $150 million, which resulted in an unsuccessful three-month search.
Contributing: Reuters; Christine Rushton, USA TODAY
Greta Cross is a national trending reporter at USA TODAY. Follow her on X and Instagram @gretalcross. Story idea? Email her at gcross@gannett.com.