Families of those aboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 are urging the Malaysian government to extend a contract it signed with deep-sea exploration firm Ocean Infinity to continue a search for the aircraft that disappeared 12 years ago.
The Boeing 777 was carrying 227 passengers, including six Australians, and 12 crew when it vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014, becoming one of the world’s enduring aviation mysteries.
Multiple search operations for the plane have been conducted in the southern Indian Ocean since then but all have proved fruitless.
Malaysia agreed in March 2025 to allow Ocean Infinity to resume the hunt under a “no find, no fee” principle, with the firm to be paid $US70 million ($A99 million) if the wreckage was successfully located.
Malaysia’s Air Accident Investigation Bureau said on Sunday operations had not yielded any findings so far, after two search phases covering 28 days and about 7571sq km of seabed.
Operations were periodically disrupted by weather and sea conditions, with the second phase ending on January 23, the bureau said.
“The government remains committed to keeping the families informed and will continue to provide updates as appropriate,” it said.
Voice370, a group representing families of those onboard, said it was unlikely Ocean Infinity would resume the search before its contract ended in June, due to the coming winter months in the southern hemisphere and deteriorating sea conditions.
It urged the government to grant any request for Ocean Infinity to extend its agreement, as well as expand the same terms to other interested exploration firms.
“A simple addendum extending the contract period without altering the core terms of the agreement would allow the search to continue without delay,” it said.
Ocean Infinity had conducted prior searches for the plane but failed to find substantive wreckage.
Malaysian investigators in a 2018 report did not conclude what happened aboard the flight, but did not rule out the possibility the aircraft had been deliberately taken off course.
