Malaysia's new MH370 search contract with US-based company Ocean Infinity is expected to be completed soon as the terms are being considered by the Malaysian Attorney General.
The terms of Malaysia Airlines' search contract for missing flight MH370 are expected to be finalized in the next few days, Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke said.
"We have not signed a contract yet. The contract is still in place for the Chief Inspector and the terms will be finalized in the next few days," he told KiniTV on February 19 when asked about the ship of marine robotics company Ocean Infinity en route from Mauritius to what is believed to be where MH370 crashed.
Ship tracking websites listed Ocean Infinity's "Armada 7806" as "offshore of Australia" and the ship is expected to arrive on the afternoon of February 23.
Information about the movement of the Armada 7806 in the Indian Ocean has raised speculation that Ocean Infinity is about to start searching for MH370, possibly even before the contract with Malaysia is signed.
This is the third search for MH370 since the disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines plane and the second search conducted by Ocean Infinity. MH370 experts believe the missing plane was in deep Indian Ocean waters, about 1,500 km west of Perth, Australia.
Australia's 9News.com reported that the latest search for MH370 will focus on an area of 15,000 square kilometres, about 30 kilometers away from the area that Ocean Infinity searched in 2018.
The location of the latest search for MH370 conducted by Ocean Infinity was determined through a new analysis of 3 research groups since the previous search, AviationSource News reported.
Last December, Malaysia's Transport Minister Loke announced that the Malaysian cabinet had agreed in principle with Ocean Infinity's proposal for a "no find, no fee" search.
"No find, no fee" is a common financial arrangement for maritime rescue activities, in which the owner does not have to pay the search party if he has not found it. However, if MH370 is found, Ocean Infinity demands to pay $70 million.
Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 departed from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on the night of March 8, 2014, carrying 239 passengers and crew. However, the plane mysteriously changed direction, left the flight path in the East Sea, returned west towards the Indian Ocean.
Although most of MH370's communication systems have been shut down, analysts can still give the plane's last transmission signal in the southern Indian Ocean.
