Malaysia today signed an agreement with US-based seabed exploration company, Ocean Infinity Limited to begin a new search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 which vanished in 2014.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed by Department of Civil Aviation Director-General Azharuddin Abdul Rahman on behalf of the Malaysian government, while Ocean Infinity was represented by its chief executive officer Oliver Plunkett in a ceremony in Putrajaya witnessed by Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai.

Speaking to reporters after the signing of the MoU, Liow said the search was expected to commence in the middle of this month whereby the Seabed Constructor vessel would cover an area of 25,000 sq km within 90 days.

He said the priority search area in the southern Indian Ocean was based on “no cure, no fee,” which meant that payment would only be made when the debris of the missing jetliner was found and confirmed by a third party.

“The primary mission by Ocean Infinity is to identify the location of the debris field, wreckage and or both of the flight recorders - cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder – and present considerable and credible evidence to confirm the exact location of the main items,“ he added.

Australia, China and Malaysia, which jointly coordinated and funded the search operation, had in January last year suspended the search for MH370 when traces of the Boeing 777 could not be found in the 120,000 sq km search area of the southern Indian Ocean.

Flight MH370 disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014. It had 239 passengers and crew members on board.

Liow said Seabed Constructor was currently on the way to the search area, taking advantage of the favourable weather condition in the southern Indian Ocean.

On the payment, he explained the payment to Ocean Infinity was subjected to the area where the wreckage was located based on the division of search area as agreed upon in the agreement.

“For the first 5,000 sq km primary search area, if any of the items are found, Ocean Infinity will be paid US$20 million, and US$30 million for the subsequent 10,000 sq km secondary search area.

“US$50 million for another 10,000 sq km tertiary search area and US$70 million for additional supplementary search area which is beyond 25,000 sq km,” he said.

The transport minister added the MH370 Response Team headed by Azharuddin, together with officials from the Transport, Foreign and Communication and Multimedia Ministries, would be monitoring the works done by Ocean Infinity via an operation room established within the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) premises.

The team, also comprising the Royal Malaysia Police and the Attorney-General's Chambers, will be updating families of those on board MH370 via text messages and email, as well as update information on the MH370 official website under the next-of-kin (NOK) section as and when new information becomes available.

"I would like to reiterate our unwavering commitment towards solving the mystery of the MH370 incident. Our thoughts and prayers have and will always be with the families and loved ones of those on board MH370, as we stand with you in these trying times.

"It is my hope that we will find the answers that we seek for nearly four years and bring some closure to this unfortunate incident," said Liow.

During the question-and-answer session, he said the payment would be fully borne by the Malaysian government.

"The payment will only be given if Ocean Infinity finds the debris field, not just a piece of wreckage and/or the flight recorder, and receives strong confirmation from experts,” he said.

Asked why Malaysia decided to reopen the search for MH370, he said: "We looked into Ocean Infinity's expertise and also the company has offered to search, especially on ‘no cure, no fee’ basis.

"After looking at the expertise, it says 85 per cent probability of finding the wreckage in the new search area. So, we wanted to look for answers. Through negotiations and discussions with Ocean Infinity, today we came to a conclusion, it is important to find answers and bring closure to the MH370 incident.

"We both agreed to complete the search within 90 days. This is the best time as the water is calm and sunny from the southern atmosphere.”

Asked if he had met the NOK to inform them about the new search operation, Liow said they had been informed on the latest decision that Malaysia would like to continue the search with Ocean Infinity.

"However, we do not want to create high hopes but we are together with them to go through this difficult time to find answers and bring closure to this incident.”

Meanwhile, Plunkett said although Ocean Infinity was a new business which was established at the end of 2015, it was a technology-based company with the world's most advanced fleet of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV), packed with a variety of sensors, detectors and cameras to move on their own and come back with information which would be processed on board the ship.

For the MH370 search, he said eight AUV would go down to the seabed consecutively, with sonar search instrument attached on them to identify the wreckage as quick as possible, and be able to cover roughly 1,200 sq km on a daily basis.

"With our experience of 6,100 hours of AUV dive time in a variety of terrains and projects like Gulf stream and coast of the United States, and our capability of operating in 5,860m deep for collection of high resolution data at record breaking speeds, we are able to finish our first 5,000 sq km search in the first four weeks. Then, we have roughly 60 days to carry on looking if we haven't found MH370," he noted.

Asked why Ocean Infinity was confident of the search since the last one failed, Plunkett said it was unfair to determine whether the previous searches were right or wrong, and since there were new assessments from scientists on the new search area, it was only the right decision to embark on a new search with the company's AUVs.

He said Ocean Infinity also comprised experts and industry leaders who had 90 years of experience and knowledge in offshore survey operations using autonomous vehicles, which included four of them who were involved in the Air France incident.

"On the search mission, we have 65 crew members including 25 experts from Ocean Infinity. The search and equipment are based on the share holder money which was investment into the business," he added.

- Bernama