The failed search leaves one of aviation’s most enduring modern mysteries unresolved. Ocean Infinity, which was contracted to survey a 15,000-square-kilometer area for a $70 million fee payable only upon discovery of wreckage, has redeployed its vessel for other work and is unlikely to return before its contract expires in June, with approaching southern-hemisphere winter conditions further limiting options.

A renewed deep-sea search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has found no confirmed trace of the aircraft, Malaysia’s Air Accident Investigation Bureau said Sunday, on the 12th anniversary of the Boeing 777’s disappearance with 239 people aboard.

The bureau said Texas-based marine robotics company Ocean Infinity surveyed approximately 7,571 square kilometers of southern Indian Ocean seabed — roughly half the contracted 15,000-square-kilometer search area — without locating wreckage. Weather periodically disrupted operations, it said.

“The search activities undertaken have not yielded any findings that confirm the location of the aircraft wreckage,” the bureau said in a statement.

The bureau did not say when the search would resume.

Voice 370, a group representing families of some of those aboard, urged the Malaysian government to extend Ocean Infinity’s contract and to pursue similar agreements with other capable deep-sea exploration companies.

“The government pays nothing unless the aircraft is found,” the group said. “Any request by Ocean Infinity to extend the search contract should therefore be granted without hesitation.”

Contract Status

Ocean Infinity’s contract runs until June 2026, but the group said the company’s vessel has been redeployed for other work and is unlikely to return to the search area soon, with approaching southern-hemisphere winter conditions further limiting operations.

Malaysia contracted Ocean Infinity under a no-find, no-fee arrangement that would pay the company $70 million only upon discovery of wreckage. The search was conducted in two phases: March 25–28, 2025, and December 31, 2025, to January 23, 2026.

The Texas-based company also conducted an unsuccessful private search in 2018.

Background

Flight MH370 vanished from radar shortly after takeoff on March 8, 2014, carrying 239 people — mostly Chinese nationals — on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Satellite data showed the plane turned from its flight path and headed south toward the far-southern Indian Ocean, where it is believed to have crashed.

An expensive multinational search effort in the years following the disappearance also failed to locate the aircraft. Debris from the plane subsequently washed ashore on the east African coast and on Indian Ocean islands.

Voice 370 said it would “continue the fight for answers. We will never give up!”