THE hunt for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 officially resumes today, following the penning of a deal between Putrajaya and a private US seabed exploration firm.

Ocean Infinity Ltd has already deployed a research vessel from South Africa to search a 25,000 sq km area in the southern Indian Ocean identified by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau in April last year.

Malaysia has agreed to pay the US firm on a “no find, no fee” basis, whereby Ocean Infinity would get paid only if it finds either the location of the aircraft’s wreckage or its flight recorder within 90 days.

The company will get paid US$20 million (RM82 million) for debris found within the 5,000 sq km primary search area, US$30 million for the 10,000 sq km secondary search area and US$50 million for the 10,000 sq km tertiary search area.

It also stands a chance to get US$70 million if anything is found in the supplementary search area, beyond the stipulated 25,000 sq km search area, within 90 days.

Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said the search would properly begin in the middle of the month, and payment to Ocean Infinity would be made only if it found concrete evidence of the missing aircraft within 90 days, which must be verified by local officials.

“Within these three months, they must complete a search area of 25,000 sq km. They should either locate the debris field, or flight recorder, or both.

“They can search, but it (finding debris) must be within a time frame of 90 days. They can’t take forever, they cannot take up to another year,” he said during a press conference in Putrajaya today after the deal was signed.

Liow said while the decision to continue the search was a “tripartite” one with the Australian and Chinese governments, Malaysia would bear the costs if anything was found.

“The payment is to be fully made by the Malaysian government.”

He said there were two Royal Malaysian Navy personnel on board the research vessel to keep Putrajaya updated on the progress of the hunt.

The Transport Ministry has set up a control centre in Putrajaya, where it will monitor the search along with the Foreign Ministry and police, among other authorities.

It was reported last week that research vessel Seabed Constructor, leased by Ocean Infinity, had set off from South Africa for the Indian Ocean, with the aim of being ready to start the search in a window of good weather expected this month and next month.

The vessel comes with eight autonomous submarines, called HUGINS, which can go as deep as 5,600m.

This is deeper than the 4,000m limit of the autonomous submarine deployed in the search last year.

Ocean Infinity chief executive officer Oliver Plunkett said the Seabed Constructor could cover up to 1,200 sq km a day, and it was expected to cover more than the targeted 25,000 sq km.

“We can roughly cover around 1,200 sq km per day. We will finish the 25,000 sq km in the first three to four weeks of the search.

“Roughly, we have another 60 days. If we have not found anything as yet, we can continue looking.”

Plunkett said compared with the earlier search for MH370, the current team had more data to work with, including the results of the previous search mission, and had newer technology at its disposal.

“It is not fair to say what was done before is flawed. Since then, scientists have done more work in the ocean, and parts of the wreckage have washed up ashore.

“From there, we assessed the right place to search for MH370. We have the technology now that allows us to cover ground much faster and more efficiently.”

The jetliner disappeared with 239 people on board in March 2014, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

The Australian-led search mission was suspended in January last year after investigators finished scouring a 120,000 sq km search area determined via a satellite analysis of the plane’s trajectory. – January 10, 2018.