New search for vanished Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 welcomed by families seeking closure

Conducted by deep-sea exploration company Ocean Infinity, the new search will cover a 15,000 sq km area of the southern Indian Ocean

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Family members of passengers and crew on board missing flight MH370 and Malaysia’s Transport Minister, Loke Siew Fook at an event in Subang Jaya last year marking the 10th anniversary of its disappearance. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 1:30pm, 26 Feb 2025Updated: 1:32pm, 27 Feb 2025

The return of deep-sea exploration company Ocean Infinity to the southern Indian Ocean has revived hope for closure among the families of those aboard vanished flight MH370, as the search for the plane resumes a week before the 11th anniversary of its disappearance.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 went missing with all of its 239 passengers – two-thirds of whom were Chinese nationals – and crew on March 8, 2014, in what is considered by many to be the biggest mystery in civil aviation history.

Two earlier search operations – including a 2018 attempt by Ocean Infinity – yielded few clues as to the location of the aircraft in the vast and mostly uncharted southern Indian Ocean, where experts believe it ended its journey.

News of the search’s resumption came as a relief for Grace Subathirai Nathan, whose mother Daisy Ann was on board the ill-fated flight.

“We are very grateful that our transport minister fulfilled his promise to be committed to the search for MH370 as well as for the continued perseverance and dedication from Ocean Infinity,” Grace told This Week in Asia.

“It is hard to have expectations after everything we have been through in the last 11 years,” Grace added.