The Malaysian government has agreed to a request from US company Ocean Infinity to resume the search for MH370. This Malaysia Airlines plane disappeared from radar more than a decade ago.

“The proposal is good and deserves to be explored,” Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke said on Friday.

The terms of the search operation are currently being negotiated between Kuala Lumpur and the company. Ocean Infinity will only be paid if the wreck is found. The Americans want to search in a new zone of the Indian Ocean, which is about 15,000 km² in size. 

The Boeing 777 disappeared from radar on March 8, 2014, between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing, 40 minutes after take-off. The plane was never found. There were 239 people on board, 153 of whom were Chinese. The fate of the flight remains one of the greatest mysteries in modern civil aviation.

The Australian, Malaysian and Chinese governments suspended their underwater search in January 2017. Authorities determined that the wreck was probably not in the search area, which is about 120,000 km² in size. Some debris was found near La Réunion, Mauritius and Tanzania, among other places.