MH370 search expanded as deadline looms

MH370 search expanded as deadline looms
By Alexandra Coulton


After searching nearly 25,000 km of what has been identified as a ‘priority area’, US company Ocean Infinity has expanded its search for MH370.

After exhausting what was identified by Australian experts as the planes most likely resting place, the search for the missing MH370 flight will enter it’s final phase this week, more than four years after it disappeared on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Since January, Ocean Infinity has covered nearly 80,000 square kilometres of the Indian Ocean, the Guardian reports.

After the Texas-based company finished searching the ‘priority area’, on April 3, the search ship continued on north.

According to the Guardian, a report has revealed the first extension of the search has concluded with no results, but a new extension site has been added.

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Ocean Infinity CEO, Oliver Plunkett, said on Monday the company is “absolutely determined” to find the plane.

“Whilst it’s disappointing there has been no sign of MH370 in the Australian Transport Safety Bureau search area and further north, there is still some search time remaining,” he said, according to the Guardian.

In January, Malaysia signed a “no cure, no fee” deal with Ocean Infinity that finishes in June, as the weather in the southern Indian Ocean worsens.

MH370 originally went missing 8 March 2014 with 239 people on board, while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

The Australian lead search was called off in January of last year.

The search was the largest in aircraft history and included Australian, Chinese and Malaysian authorities.

It cost roughly $200 million to fund.

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