Latest Deep-Sea Search for Missing Malaysia Flight MH370 Comes Up Empty

A new underwater search effort for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which disappeared 12 years ago with 239 people on board, has failed to locate the aircraft wreckage. The Texas-based company Ocean Infinity searched thousands of square kilometers of ocean floor under a "no-find, no-fee" contract worth $70 million. Families of the victims are urging authorities to continue the search efforts.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — A fresh attempt to locate Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has yielded no results after searching vast areas of the southern Indian Ocean floor, Malaysian officials announced Sunday. The aircraft disappeared 12 years ago carrying 239 passengers and crew members.

Malaysia’s Air Accident Investigation Bureau reported that Ocean Infinity, a marine robotics firm, conducted extensive seabed exploration between March 2025 and January 2026, scanning thousands of square kilometers without discovering any verified aircraft remains.

The Texas-based company received approval from Malaysia last year to conduct this latest search operation across a 15,000-square-kilometer area in the southern Indian Ocean, where investigators believe the plane went down. Under the agreement, Ocean Infinity will receive $70 million compensation only if wreckage is found.

Operations took place over 28 days in two separate periods — March 25-28 of last year and from December 31, 2025, through January 23 this year, covering approximately 7,571 square kilometers of ocean floor. Weather conditions occasionally hampered the search efforts, according to the bureau.

“The search activities undertaken have not yielded any findings that confirm the location of the aircraft wreckage,” officials stated, without providing details about when operations might continue.

The Boeing 777 aircraft disappeared from radar systems on March 8, 2014, shortly after departing Kuala Lumpur for Beijing with 239 people aboard, predominantly Chinese citizens. Satellite tracking indicated the plane deviated from its planned route and traveled south toward the remote southern Indian Ocean, where experts believe it crashed.

Previous costly international search missions failed to pinpoint the aircraft’s location, though pieces of debris eventually washed up along the east African coastline and various Indian Ocean islands. Ocean Infinity’s earlier private search mission in 2018 also proved unsuccessful.

Voice 370, an organization representing families of the missing passengers, is calling on the Malaysian government to extend Ocean Infinity’s current contract and explore similar partnerships with other deep-sea exploration firms.

While Ocean Infinity’s agreement continues through June, the advocacy group noted that the company’s search vessel has been reassigned to other projects and likely won’t return soon to complete the remaining search zones due to approaching winter weather and worsening ocean conditions.

“The government pays nothing unless the aircraft is found. Any request by Ocean Infinity to extend the search contract should therefore be granted without hesitation,” the group declared. “If the present search is unsuccessful, we would also urge Malaysia to kindly consider extending similar no find, no fee opportunities to other capable deep sea exploration companies.”

The organization pledged to “continue the fight for answers. We will never give up!”