The Malaysian government said Sunday it is open to resuming the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 that went missing en route to Beijing nearly 10 years ago, citing a potential collaboration with a U.S. ocean exploration company.
Speaking at a ceremony organized by family members of the crash victims ahead of the anniversary of the Boeing 777's disappearance, Transport Minister Loke Siew Fook said he will try to persuade the Cabinet to approve the search.
"This is the biggest aviation mystery in the whole world. We must solve this mystery," he said.
The search is expected to be conducted on a "no-find, no-fee" basis, the minister said, noting that he has instructed the transport ministry to invite Ocean Infinity to Malaysia to be briefed on the matter.
Flight MH370 vanished from radar less than 40 minutes after taking off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport just after midnight on March 8, 2014, with 239 passengers and crew on board.
Based on radar and satellite communications, it was calculated that the plane diverted from its flight path and plunged into the southern Indian Ocean, sparking a massive international hunt led by Australia.
The Australian-led search spent nearly three years and $200 million scouring 120,000 square kilometers of one of the world's largest oceans before the hunt was declared over in January 2017, with no significant piece of wreckage ever being found.
In January 2018, Ocean Infinity took over the operation under a "no cure, no fee" agreement and combed a further 112,000 square km that also yielded nothing by the time its contract expired in May.
An independent international investigation team led by Malaysia concluded in its report released in 2018 that there was no way to determine what caused the plane's disappearance because there was no major wreckage or flight data information for the team to examine.
At the commemoration ceremony, next-of-kin paid tribute to their loved one with poem recitations, song and dance and the lighting of 239 candles, one for each life lost on Flight MH370.
"We don't want more speculation. We want evidence and truth. Therefore, we urge the Malaysian government and relevant agencies not to cease the search but to continue seeking the truth," said Bai Shuan Fu, a Chinese man whose wife was a passenger on the ill-fated flight.
