British News Agency

The renewed search, launched by UK- and US-based marine robotics company Ocean Infinity, began earlier this year but was halted in April due to adverse weather conditions.

Malaysia’s Ministry of Transport announced this month that seabed searches will be carried out intermittently for 55 days starting from December 30.

Ocean Infinity signed a “no find, no fee” agreement with Malaysia. Under the deal, the company will search a new 15,000-square-kilometer area of the ocean and will receive $70 million only if the wreckage is found. The company declined to comment on the latest search.

Flight MH370 disappeared from air traffic control radar on March 8, 2014, after deviating from its route during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The aircraft was carrying 12 Malaysian crew members and 227 passengers, most of them Chinese nationals. There were also 38 Malaysian passengers, seven Australian citizens and residents, as well as nationals of Indonesia, India, France, the United States, Iran, Ukraine, Canada, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Russia and Taiwan.