Twelve years after Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 disappeared with 239 people on board, a renewed deep-sea search has been called off with no prospect of finding the aircraft in that area of the southern Indian Ocean.
Malaysia’s Air Accident Investigation Bureau said a seabed search, undertaken by marine robotics firm Ocean Infinity between March 2025 and January 2026, did not yield any sightings of the plane’s wreckage.
Flight MH370 departed from Kuala Lumpur on 8 March 2014, bound for Beijing. It lost contact with air traffic control less than an hour after take-off.
On its website, Ocean Infinity says it believes the missing aircraft is not located in the search area. The company added that since first embarking on the search mission in 2018, it has spent 151 days at sea and mapped more than 140,000 sqm of seafloor.
“I hope those around the world for whom this mattered know that, even though we don’t have the outcome we wanted, a large number of people did the very best they could,” said Ocean Infinity CEO, Oliver Plunkett.
“We’re deeply grateful for the support of the families, the Malaysian Government, the Australian Government, and the many companies and individuals who dedicated time and effort because they cared and wanted to help.
“If nothing else, we can say with confidence that it isn’t where we looked. That matters – it brings clarity, and it will help those continuing to study the evidence refine their thinking and shape future search strategies.”
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