Texas company ends search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight

The Texas-based company hired to find the wreckage of the missing Malaysian Airways Flight 370 ended its search on Tuesday without finding the aircraft’s remains.

Ocean Infinity announced in a statement that it had ended the search three months after it began combing the Indian Ocean for remnants of the airplane, which crashed in 2014 during a flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing.

Oliver Plunkett, the company’s CEO, said in a statement that he was disappointed that the search did not turn up any results. He said that Ocean Infinity had hoped to provide answers to the families of the passengers on board the flight.

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“Part of our motivation for renewing the search was to try to provide some answers to those affected,” he said. “It is therefore with a heavy heart that we end our current search without having achieved that aim.”

The Malaysian and Chinese governments ended their official search for the downed aircraft last year. 

Malaysia inked a deal with Ocean Infinity in January to continue the search for MH370. Under the agreement, Ocean Infinity would be paid $70 million if it located the wreckage or the plane’s black boxes.

Plunkett thanked the Malaysian government on Tuesday for the opportunity to continue the search for the aircraft. 

“We are most grateful to the Government of Malaysia for entertaining our offer and affording us the opportunity to recommence the search,” he said. “The commitment that the new government in Malaysia has made to prioritising finding MH370 was very good to hear.”