A privately funded search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has formally ended . US-based company Ocean Infinity had been using a deep-sea vessel to conduct a 90-day survey of a vast area of the southern Indian Ocean however, the search ended without the mystery being solved.
The Boeing 777 disappeared on 8 March 2014 while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board. Malaysian authority said last week the search by Texas-based company Ocean Infinity would end on Tuesday after two extensions of the original 90-day time limit.
Ocean Infinity surveyed an area of about 80,000 sq km (30,888 sq miles), using a fleet of up to eight mini-submarines.
The deteriorating weather in the area as winter approaches now makes operating there impossible for the next few months.
The company had agreed to undertake the search unpaid but would have received a reward of up to $70m if it had found the wreckage.
Mystery of Malyasia Airlines Flight MH370
8 March 2014: Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 departs for Beijing. The plane loses contact less than an hour after take-off, with no distress signal or message sent. Initial search efforts focus on the South China Sea
15 March 2015: After evidence emerges that the plane was diverted to the south, the focus switches to the Indian Ocean
July 2015: Large piece of debris washes ashore on Reunion, an island in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar
January 2017: The governments of Australia, Malaysia and China announce they are suspending the official search after failing to find anything in the area thought to be the plane’s final resting place
January 2018: Amid pressure from relatives, Malaysia signs a deal with a private company to resume the hunt
May 2018: The latest search ends, with Malaysia saying it has no plans to restart it
