After more than a decade, the world’s biggest aviation mystery may be on the verge of being solved.
A new mission to locate the wreckage of downed passenger plane Malaysia Airlines flight 370 could begin within weeks after an expert report into its potential location was endorsed by the Malaysian government.
Experts say they are almost certain they’ve found MH370’s final resting ground, just 30 kilometres from where the last search took place.
A Malaysian government minister revealed the country is in advanced negotiations with marine exploration company Ocean Infinity to resume the search after a six-year break.
“The latest data that has been made by experts and researchers consulted by the company,” Malaysia’s Transport Minister Anthony Loke said.
“The search operation recommendation by Infinity is a strong or credible recommendation.”
Ocean Infinity believes MH370 crashed 562 kilometres west of Perth in the Indian Ocean.
There were 239 people on board, including six Australians, when the flight disappeared on March 8, 2014.
The aircraft’s last satellite signal suggested the Boeing 777’s final resting place could be west of Perth.
The area became the focus of a multi-national search.
From June 2015 pieces of the plane started washing up on various coastlines, Reunion Island, Mozambique, Tanzania and Mauritius.
In December 2017 the most expensive aviation search in history was called off.
A year later, Ocean Infinity began its first undersea search mission, working for six months to no avail.
In total more than 200,000 square kilometres of ocean have been scoured.
The new search zone is just 30 kilometres from its previous search zone.
Experts believe the search could restart in these waters by the end of this month.
The search would be on the basis of a “no find, no fee”, but if it is found, the tech company is requesting $70 million.