MH370: Malaysia agrees to resume search for missing passenger plane

Relatives of MH370 passengers have welcomed the Malaysian government’s approval of a new search.

“I’m very happy about the news… It seems like the best Christmas present ever,” Jacquita Gonzales, wife of MH370 onboard supervisor Patrick Gomes, told the New Straits Times.

“This announcement awakens mixed emotions: hope, gratitude and sadness. After almost 11 years, the uncertainty and pain of not having answers have been incredibly difficult for us,” Intan Maizura Othaman also told the newspapers. Her husband, Mohd Hazrin Mohamed Hasnan, was a member of the cabin crew.

Jiang Hui, whose mother was on the plane, told Reuters news agency that the Malaysian government needs to take a “more open approach” in the search to allow more players to participate.

In a statement, Ocean Infinity CEO Oliver Plunkett said the Malaysian government’s decision was “great news”, adding: “We look forward to sharing more updates in the new year once we have finalized the details and the team is ready to go.”

Flight MH370 took off from Kuala Lumpur in the early hours of March 8, 2014. It lost communication with air traffic control less than an hour after takeoff and radar showed it deviated from its planned flight path.

Investigators generally agree that the plane crashed somewhere in the southern Indian Ocean, although it is unclear why it happened.

Pieces of debris, believed to belong to the plane, have washed up on the shores of the Indian Ocean in the years since it went missing.

A number of conspiracy theories have emerged surrounding the plane’s disappearance, from speculation that the pilot had deliberately shot down the plane to claims that it had been shot down by foreign militaries.

A 2018 investigation into the plane’s disappearance found that the plane’s controls were likely deliberately manipulated to divert it from its course, but drew no conclusions about who had been behind it.

Investigators said at the time that “the answer can only be conclusive if the wreckage of the plane is found.”