The search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 will be resuming on December 30, more than ten years after the aircraft disappeared with 239 people on board.
The renewed effort is being carried out by Ocean Infinity, a marine robotics company based in the U.S. and the U.K. The company began a new search earlier this year, but it was ultimately suspended due to poor weather conditions.
Ocean Infinity has agreed to a no find, no fee deal with Malaysia, meaning the company will survey the new 5,800-square-mile area of the ocean and will only receive payment of $70 million if the wreckage is found.
The company has declined to comment on the latest search.
Flight MH370 disappeared from radar on March 8, 2014, after veering off course during what was meant to be a routine trip from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
There were 12 crew members and 227 passengers on board.
Most of the passengers were Chinese nationals, along with 38 Malaysians, seven Australian residents, and citizens from India, Indonesia, the United States, France, Ukraine, Iran, Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Taiwan, and Russia.
After the plane vanished, one of the largest underwater search missions ever attempted was launched.
Australia led the multinational effort together with China and Malaysia, scanning more than 46,300 square miles of seabed in a remote part of the Indian Ocean.
That search ultimately concluded in January 2017. Ocean Infinity later carried out another three-month search in 2018, but it was ultimately unsuccessful.
Those debris have played a crucial role in drift-pattern studies, which experts have used to estimate where the aircraft may have gone down.
For now, officials have not disclosed the exact location of the new search area.
The Malaysian Transport Ministry has only said the operation will focus on a new area believed to offer the biggest chance of finding the missing plane.
Back in 2018, investigators determined that the aircraft was likely deliberately turned around while in flight, rather than continuing on autopilot.
Families of those who were on board have always said that finding answers is crucial to helping prevent a similar tragedy in the future.
Danica Weeks, who lost her husband on the flight, said her family has never stopped hoping for clarity. She said they are praying the renewed search will finally bring the understanding and sense of peace they have been seeking since March 2014.
