Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim emphasized that the public deserves answers about what happened to MH370.
Prime Minister Ibrahim said Transport Minister Anthony Loke informed the cabinet on December 20 about the resumption of the search for MH370 and the costs to be paid if found.
If you ask me whether I am impressed or convinced by the new search for MH370, it is not clear. But we owe it to the people. At the very least, we have convinced them that the people are ready to find the plane," Malay Mail quoted Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim as saying.
The Malaysian leader added that if Ocean Infinity finds MH370, Malaysia will pay the costs. "If they find it, we will pay. If they don't find it, we won't pay. That is our position," he said.
Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disappeared in March 2014 while en route from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Beijing, China. The missing plane was carrying 239 passengers and crew. Over the years, efforts to search for MH370 have failed.
Malaysian media reported that on December 20, Minister Anthony Loke announced that the Malaysian Government had approved in principle the proposal to search for MH370 on a "no find, no fee" basis.
In principle, the Malaysian cabinet agreed to accept Ocean Infinity's proposal to continue searching for MH370 in a new search area estimated at 15,000 square kilometers. The location of the missing Boeing 777 is based on the latest data collected after 10 years of analysis by experts and researchers on MH370.
Malaysia, Australia and China have launched an underwater search for MH370, in an area of 120,000 square kilometres in the southern Indian Ocean, based on automated data connecting Inmarsat satellites and the plane.
The search for MH370, worth about 200 million Australian dollars, was called off after two years, in January 2017, without finding any trace of the missing plane.
In 2018, Malaysia accepted the search proposal also on a "no find, no fee" basis from the US exploration company Ocean Infinity. Ocean Infinity's search for MH370 lasted 3 months, covering an area of 112,000 square kilometres north of the original search location. The search was also fruitless and ended in May 2018.
More than 30 pieces of suspected MH370 debris have been collected along the coast of Africa and on islands in the Indian Ocean, but only three pieces of the plane's wing have been confirmed to be from MH370. Most of the MH370 debris was used for analysis to narrow down the plane's location.
In the 495-page report on the disappearance of MH370 released in July 2018, investigators did not make any conclusions about what happened to the Malaysia Airlines plane, emphasizing the conclusion depends on finding the wreckage.
The inability to determine the location of MH370's crash has sparked many plot theories. In recent years, some aviation experts have suggested that the most likely explanation is that the plane was deliberately piloted by an experienced pilot and went off course. However, investigators said there were no doubts about the background, financial issues, training and mental health of both the captain and deputy captain of MH370.
