On 25 February 2025, the search for flight MH370 will officially resume under the leadership of Ocean Infinity, marking the fourth major campaign since the plane disappeared in 2014.
The Malaysian government has entered into a $70 million contract with the British company, operating on a “no find, no fee” basis. Ocean Infinity will only be remunerated if the wreckage is located. This initiative will take place in a revised area of 15,000 km² in the southern Indian Ocean, near the Broken Ridge fault, where recent analysis suggests a final trajectory to the south.
However, operations were temporarily suspended in March 2025 due to extreme weather conditions. High winds and waves of more than 10 metres forced the vessels to retreat to Perth, underlining the persistence of natural obstacles in the region that have hampered the search since 2014.
MH370 : Background to the disappearance
On 8 March 2014 at 00:41, Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 took off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport bound for Beijing. The aircraft was a Boeing 777, with 239 people on board. At 01:20, the aircraft disappeared from radar. Despite extensive efforts, communication with the crew was not established.
In the hours that followed, the authorities continued to hope for an emergency landing. However, by 8:30 am, the aircraft should have exhausted its fuel reserves, and no airport in the world had reported receiving the plane. This indicated that the worst-case scenario was becoming more likely.
The Malaysian government immediately activated search and rescue teams, though it did not know where to look. On 15 March 2014, Prime Minister Najib Razak announced that Malaysian Air Force radars had detected an aircraft that had turned back after leaving civilian airspace. This would suggest that MH370 had been in the air for several hours after initially disappearing from civilian radar. On-board equipment, which had not been deactivated, continued to communicate with a British Inmarsat satellite. These data enabled the determination of two probable trajectories after the last known position:
- one northwards, towards the Asian continent
- one southwards, over the Indian Ocean
In both cases, the trajectory indicates a deliberate hijacking.
Following further analysis, the Malaysian Transport Minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, announced on 24 March 2014 that the aircraft had most likely continued southwards into a remote area of the Indian Ocean. Given the quantity of fuel on board, it was considered certain that the aircraft had crashed into the sea.
Relatives of the victims were quick to denounce the authorities’ lack of transparency and contradictions. The investigation’s opacity gave rise to a variety of theories, including a technical accident, a deliberate takeover by the pilot, a missile, or outside intervention. However, none of these theories were ever substantiated.
For over a year, not a single fragment of the plane was found. However, on July 29, 2015, a piece of wing – a flaperon – was discovered on a beach on Reunion Island. This piece was formally identified as belonging to MH370.
In the following months, other pieces of debris were spotted on the coasts of Mozambique, Madagascar and Tanzania, confirming the crash in the Indian Ocean.
In January 2017, following an official announcement by Malaysia, Australia and China that they were officially suspending their search operations due to a lack of results, a flaperon was discovered on a beach in Reunion Island. For several years, France was the only country to maintain an active judicial investigation into the disappearance of flight MH370. The French investigation was launched in May 2014 by the Paris prosecutor’s office, following the presence of four French nationals among the 239 passengers on the missing plane. A judicial investigation was opened for “involuntary manslaughter through deliberate disregard of a specific duty of prudence or safety imposed by law or regulation”. This procedure, led by the investigation department of the Gendarmerie des transports aériens (SR-GTA), aims to reconstruct the circumstances of the plane’s disappearance. In September 2014, the Paris prosecutor’s office extended the investigation to include the charge of “hijacking an aircraft aggravated by the death of one or more persons”. This investigation, which is still ongoing, has not yet established the exact causes of the plane’s disappearance or determined precise responsibilities.
The disappearance of flight MH370 is one of the most significant unsolved mysteries in modern civil aviation. What caused the plane to deviate from its initial trajectory? What events occurred on board the aircraft? The most crucial question of all is the location of MH370.
History of MH370 search campaigns
March 2014 – April 2014: Initial searches
From 8 March 2014, the search focused on the South China Sea, the area corresponding to the last known radar position. A coalition of 12 countries, including Malaysia, China, the United States and Vietnam, deploys 43 ships and 37 aircraft to scan 50,000 km².
On 15 March, analysis of Malaysian military radar data revealed the aircraft’s abrupt turn to the west, crossing the Malay Peninsula and the Strait of Malacca. The search was then extended to the Andaman Sea and the northern Indian Ocean, a vast and under-explored maritime zone.
2014 – 2017: Joint underwater campaign
Under the leadership of Australia, an international coalition explored 120,000 km² in the southern Indian Ocean from May 2014. The ADV Ocean Shield vessel, equipped with multibeam sonar and ROVs, scans the seabed at depths of up to 4,000 metres. In July 2015, the aircraft’s right flaperon was found on Reunion Island, confirming that the debris had drifted towards Africa.
Of the 33 pieces of debris identified between 2015 and 2017, only three (including the flaperon and a wing flap) are formally attributed to MH370. However, the official search was officially suspended on 17 January 2017 after three years of unsuccessful efforts due to the failure to locate the wreckage.
2018: Ocean Infinity’s private mission
In January 2018, Ocean Infinity signed an agreement with Malaysia to explore a further 112,000 km² in the Indian Ocean. The vessel Seabed Constructor deploys eight HUGIN autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), capable of diving to 6,000 metres and mapping the seabed with 1-metre resolution. Despite detecting several magnetic anomalies, no wrecks are identified, and the mission ends unsuccessfully in May 2018.
MH370 disappearance : Search resumes in 2025
The contract signed between Ocean Infinity and the Malaysian government in February 2025 is based on a “No Find, No Fee” model, whereby the British company assumes all operational costs (estimated at $70 million) and receives compensation only if the wreck is found. This approach reflects Ocean Infinity’s confidence in its ability to recover the aircraft. Malaysia’s Minister of Transport, Anthony Loke, has praised this “bold collaboration”, emphasising that the country would not have been in a position to finance a fourth campaign without this partnership.
Operations are focused on a newly revised 15,000 km² area in the southern Indian Ocean, near the Broken Ridge fracture. This area, situated approximately 2,000 km west of Perth, had been partially overlooked in previous searches due to its complex underwater topography. Reanalysis of Inmarsat satellite data and debris drift models has led to a refocusing of efforts on submarine canyons and hydrothermal vents, where currents may have trapped the wreckage.
New research was suspended in early April 2025 due to extreme weather conditions in the “roaring forties”. The deployment of AUVs was rendered unfeasible due to waves reaching 10 For several years, France was the only country to maintain an active judicial investigation into the disappearance of flight MH370. The French investigation was launched in May 2014 by the Paris prosecutor’s office, following the presence of four French nationals among the 239 passengers on the missing plane. A judicial investigation was opened for “involuntary manslaughter through deliberate disregard of a specific duty of prudence or safety imposed by law or regulation”. This procedure, led by the investigation department of the Gendarmerie des transports aériens (SR-GTA), aims to reconstruct the circumstances of the plane’s disappearance. In September 2014, the Paris prosecutor’s office extended the investigation to include the charge of “hijacking an aircraft aggravated by the death of one or more persons”. This investigation, which is still ongoing, has not yet established the exact causes of the plane’s disappearance or determined precise responsibilities.
metres in height and winds of 120 km/h. These conditions are reminiscent of those encountered during the 2014-2017 campaigns, when only 20% of days at sea were exploitable.
Ocean Infinity technological resources
Armada 7806 autonomous vessels
It represent a significant advancement in autonomous maritime operations. Designed to operate with little or no on-board crew, these 78-metre vessels are remotely piloted from land-based control centres via satellite.
Each vessel is equipped with AUVs and ROVs, enabling geophysical and geotechnical surveys, seabed mapping, and underwater acoustic monitoring. Their adaptability, derived from their modular design, allows for customisation to suit diverse scientific, commercial or research missions.
The first eight vessels were constructed in Vietnam at the Vard shipyard, with the final vessel delivered in Norway in January 2024. This new generation of vessels combines performance, autonomy and environmental sustainability, while reducing costs and human risks.
HUGIN AUVs
Designed by the Norwegian company Kongsberg, these vehicles are among the most technologically advanced in the world. Operating at depths of 3,000 to 6,000 metres, these underwater drones are deployed by Ocean Infinity to map and analyse ocean areas inaccessible to traditional methods. Ocean Infinity currently operates 20 HUGIN units, utilized in synchronized swarms to ensure maximum coverage.
The flagship model of the range, the HUGIN Superior, incorporates MicroNavigation technology, enabling positioning accuracy of less than one meter, even on rough seabeds. Its high-resolution sonar is capable of identifying anomalies as small as a suitcase.
Ocean Infinity’s cutting-edge on-board artificial intelligence system enables the analysis of readings and the prioritization of detected anomalies. A machine learning algorithm sorts the results in less than 20 minutes, directing efforts towards the most promising targets.
Eleven years on from the incident, the resumption of the search for flight MH370 demonstrates a resolute commitment to elucidate the circumstances surrounding a disappearance that has hitherto remained unresolved. Encouraged by major advances in technology, this latest search campaign may be one of the final opportunities to locate the wreckage. For the families of the victims and the aviation community, the challenge remains the same: to obtain concrete answers to a mystery that remains unsolved.
