(VOVWORLD) - Families of those on board Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which disappeared mysteriously nine years ago, called on the Malaysian government on Sunday to allow US seabed exploration firm Ocean Infinity to mount a new search for the missing plane.
 Family members of the victims pose for a group picture with a debris of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 during its sixth annual remembrance event in Putrajaya, Malaysia, March 7, 2020. (Photo: Reuters) |
The fate of flight MH370 became one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries when it disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014.
In 2018, Malaysia engaged Ocean Infinity to search for the aircraft in the southern Indian Ocean, offering to pay up to 70 million USD if it found the plane. But its operation came up short.
The firm's search came after Malaysia, China and Australia ended a fruitless two-year, 135 million USD underwater hunt in January 2017 after finding no trace of the plane.
On Sunday, Voice370 - a grouping of relatives of those aboard the plane - said Ocean Infinity hoped to embark on a new search as early as this summer and urged the Malaysian government to accept any proposals from the firm on a conditional fee basis, such that the firm would only be paid if successful.