Global & US Headlines
Ocean Infinity Relaunches 55-Day, No-Find-No-Fee MH370 Seabed Hunt
On 30 Dec 2025 Malaysia cleared U.S. robotics firm Ocean Infinity to restart a drone-led search in a newly modelled 6,000-sq-mile patch of the southern Indian Ocean for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, the first sustained hunt since 2018.
Focusing Facts
- Operation spans 55 days (Dec 30 2025–Feb 22 2026) and targets roughly 15,000 km² (≈5,800–6,000 sq mi) identified through updated drift and satellite analysis.
- Ocean Infinity’s contract will pay up to $70 million only if wreckage is located, per 25 Mar 2025 service agreement with Malaysia’s Transport Ministry.
- The initial 2014-17 tripartite search cost an estimated $160 million and mapped 120,000 km² (46,000 sq mi) without finding the aircraft.
Context
This restart recalls the long hiatus between the 1912 Titanic sinking and Robert Ballard’s 1985 discovery—technology and persistence finally converged after seven decades. Deep-sea autonomy, honed on finds like Shackleton’s Endurance in 2022, embodies a broader 21st-century trend: private robotics firms assuming tasks once reserved for navies, incentivised by success-based contracts. Strategically, the mission tests whether big-data modelling, crowdsourced drift physics and cheaper unmanned vehicles can now shrink a mystery that defied the most expensive underwater survey in aviation history. On a century scale, resolving MH370 would close a rare gap in civil-aviation accountability—paralleling how the 1937 Earhart disappearance still haunts safety culture. If the drones again return empty-handed, it may mark the moment the world tacitly accepts that some losses remain beyond technological reach, despite exponentially rising search capabilities.
Perspectives
Aviation-industry and specialist outlets
e.g., AVweb, CBS News — They frame the renewed search as a technologically upgraded, data-driven mission that could finally solve the engineering riddle of MH370. By spotlighting gear, robotics and search methodology they downplay political controversies or questions of Malaysian oversight that don’t fit an industry success narrative.
UK tabloid press
e.g., The Mirror, Daily Mail — Coverage leans on the enduring ‘deepest enigma’ angle, reviving theories and human-interest drama to stress how the mystery still grips the public imagination. Sensational language and speculation boost clicks and emotional engagement, sometimes at the expense of substantiated detail or measured analysis.
Mainstream wire and national news services
e.g., News18, UPI/Yahoo — Reports present the restart as a Malaysian government effort to bring closure for families, emphasising the ‘no-find, no-fee’ contract and official statements. Reliance on government communiqués and corporate press releases can leave little room for scrutiny of past investigative shortcomings or broader geopolitical context.