The search for Malaysia Airlines flight 370 is back underway.
The Boeing 777 was carrying 239 people when it vanished over the South China Sea on March 8, 2014, during a flight from Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur International Airport to Beijing Capital International Airport in China.
On Tuesday, Dec. 30, a spokesperson for the U.S.-based marine exploration company Ocean Infinity said the hunt for the wreckage has resumed, more than 10 years after the aircraft disappeared.
“With the support of the Malaysian Government, we are resuming the search for the missing aircraft MH370,” the spokesperson said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE. “Due to the important and sensitive nature of this search, formal communications will come through the Malaysian Government.”
The company is expected to deploy underwater vehicles, deep-sea drones and advanced scanning technology while surveying a 6,000-mile stretch of the Indian Ocean, according to NBC News.
The Malaysian transport ministry had previously said on Dec. 3 that Ocean Infinity would help restart seabed search operations.
“Ocean Infinity has confirmed with the Government of Malaysia that it will recommence seabed search operations for a total of 55 days, to be conducted intermittently,” the agency said in a statement at the time. “The search will be carried out in targeted area assessed to have the highest probability of locating the aircraft, in accordance with the service agreement entered between the Government of Malaysia and Ocean Infinity on 25 March 2025.”
MH370 took off at 12:41 a.m. local time on Saturday, March 8, 2014 — and the aircraft’s last automated position report was sent at 1:07 a.m., according to History.com.
At 1:19 a.m., two minutes before the plane’s transponder stopped transmitting, the last voice transmission from the cockpit was sent to air traffic controllers: “Good night Malaysian three seven zero.”
Military radar later indicated the plane turned west and then north toward the Andaman Sea, before satellite data last placed it over the Indian Ocean. The aircraft disappeared roughly an hour before it was scheduled to land in China.
There were 227 passengers and 12 crew members from 14 countries on board. The pilot in command, 53-year-old Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah from Penang, joined Malaysia Airlines as a cadet pilot in 1981. The co-pilot, 27-year-old First Officer Fariq Abdul Hamid, was completing his final training flight with Flight 370.
A search-and-rescue operation began shortly after the plane disappeared. On March 24, 2014, Malaysia’s prime minister announced the flight was believed to have been lost in the Indian Ocean, with no survivors.
In the years since, objects believed to be linked to the aircraft have reportedly been found, including a flaperon recovered on Reunion Island in July 2015, a plane wing fragment found in Mauritius in May 2016 and a wing flap discovered in Tanzania in July 2016, according to CNN. Still, the plane itself has never been located despite multiple major searches.
In December 2024, the Malaysian government agreed to a $70 million deal with Ocean Infinity to restart the effort. The company previously searched for MH370 in 2018.
“Our responsibility and obligation and commitment is to the next of kin,” Transport Minister Anthony Loke said at a press conference, according to Reuters. “We hope this time will be positive, that the wreckage will be found and give closure to the families.”
