EXPERTS from a private exploration firm Ocean Infinity and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) have urged Putrajaya to allow them to search for missing plane MH370 as the eighth anniversary of its crash approaches on Tuesday.

Ocean Infinity chief executive officer Oliver Plunkett said they have been looking at all the data from previous search operations, and new material from British aerospace engineer Richard Godfrey and the Independent Group.

Godfrey had claimed last month that he had new leads as to where the plane had crashed.

“We look at this every day. Our view of the work these people have done is credible and worth focusing on. For the first time we have clarity to search for the missing plane,” he said in his speech.

According to him, Ocean Infinity had a plan for a new search in 2020 but the pandemic had derailed it.

He also said the company is building 75 remote-controlled ships for ocean surveys and that one of these would be deployed for the search.

“We are ready to continue on a no-find-no-fee basis,” said Plunkett.

The company had carried out a search for the plane but its effort ended in 2018 after Putrajaya did not renew a deal it had with the company.

An earlier Australia-led search soon after the plane disappeared – the largest-ever in aviation history – scoured 120,000sqkm far off the island-continent’s west coast for 28 months but found no trace of the aircraft, and the hunt was suspended last January.

MH370, carrying 239 people, went missing on March 8, 2014, while heading to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur.

A four-year search costing US$200 million (RM820 million) was conducted but the aircraft has never been found.

Peter Foley, who was ATSB’s director of operations for the MH370 search, said the officials ended the search prematurely.

“Everyone in the search team was not happy when the authorities told them to stop the search for the missing plane,” he said in his Facebook Live address.

He added that finding MH370 is crucial to learning how the flight had ended and outline new safety arrangements for commercial airlines in the future.

According to him, a hundred good days of searching will definitely guarantee success in finding the missing plane.

“Along with Godfrey’s study, there will be a definite answer for the 239 families that have been looking for one for eight years.

“There is also no risk for the Malaysian government if it agrees to restart the search as it is on a no-find-no-fee basis,” said Foley.

Foley said he could narrow a search area down to just 300sqkm, which could be looked at in just a few weeks.

He said this includes several areas already searched and others that were never looked at during the initial rescue effort.

“When you’re going through 120,000sqkm, you get one chance, one pass of each point.

“With 300sqkm, you can have several passes and from different angles, so it’s possible,” he said.

A family member of MH370 passenger, Jiang Hui, said that for eight years, victims’ loved ones have been waiting for the plane to be found and bring them closure.

“No matter how long it takes, we will never give up,” he said.

He also urged the government to allow experts to resume the search.

Last month, Transport Minister Wee Ka Siong said Malaysia cannot act unilaterally in the search for MH370 despite claims of new leads on the aircraft’s location based on research documents by ATSB.

Instead, he said, Putrajaya will have to discuss agreements and understanding regarding the search with the Chinese and Australian governments.

“We are ready to work with any party… we need to verify the findings with a competent body.

“Credible evidence must be found… if there is credible evidence, solid evidence, then we have no objection to continue (the search mission),” he said.

ATSB had earlier released a statement stating it had requested a third party to review the data it obtained from the search to revalidate that no items of interest were detected in prior searches, in light of Godfrey’s MH370 Flight Path paper and workings.

According to ATSB, any decision to conduct further searches for MH370 would be a matter for the Malaysian government, and that the bureau is not aware of any requests to support a new search for the missing aircraft. – March 6, 2022.