Twelve years have passed since Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 vanished with 239 people on board, but a recent deep-sea search in the southern Indian Ocean has not yielded any results.
Malaysian authorities confirmed that the aircraft remains undiscovered, while families of the victims are urging the search mission to continue.
An operation conducted by marine robotics firm Ocean Infinity, authorized by Malaysia to search for Flight 370, covered a vast area of the ocean floor from March 2025 to January 2026. Despite scouring thousands of square kilometers, no confirmed traces of the aircraft have been found.
The search area, a 15,000-square-kilometer region in the southern Indian Ocean where the plane is believed to have crashed, was targeted by Ocean Infinity under a “no-find, no-fee” agreement approved by Malaysia. The company could earn $70 million only upon finding wreckage.
The operation, spanning 28 days over two phases in March and December of last year, covered approximately 7,571 square kilometers of seabed. Adverse weather conditions periodically affected the search efforts.
The Air Accident Investigation Bureau stated that no evidence confirming the aircraft’s location has been discovered, with no timeline provided for potential future search activities.
Flight MH370, a Boeing 777, disappeared shortly after takeoff on March 8, 2014, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Satellite data indicated that the plane deviated from its planned course and headed south towards the remote southern Indian Ocean.
Despite extensive international search efforts and some wreckage found along African coastlines and Indian Ocean islands, the aircraft’s precise location remains unknown. Voice 370, representing families of the passengers, is urging the government to extend Ocean Infinity’s agreement and explore similar arrangements with other deep-sea exploration companies.
While Ocean Infinity’s agreement is valid until June, the company’s vessel has been reassigned to other projects and is unlikely to return soon due to seasonal and maritime challenges.
Voice 370 emphasized that extending the search contract should be granted if the current effort fails and encouraged Malaysia to consider similar opportunities with other capable deep-sea exploration firms. The group vowed to persist in seeking answers and declared their unwavering commitment to the cause.