In a bizarre twist, the search for MH370 is now stalled as the Malaysian Government has been sitting on a simple no-find/no-fee contract.
Terms were agreed with UK search company, Ocean Infinity, in mid-December but the Malaysian Government will not sign. Apparently, its lawyer has not ticked it off.
Sources in Malaysia have separately told this website and Richard Godfrey, the UK aerospace engineer who has perfected a new flightpath tracking on MH370, that while the Malaysian Government has agreed the terms of a no-find/no-fee contract, the contract itself has been sitting with a lawyer for review for almost two months.
I must stress that we have had no confirmation from the Government nor Ocean Infinity but our sources in Malaysia are impeccable.
Two days ago, we brought you the news that Armada 7808 was about to start the new search for MH370. This report was based on intel from Port Louis and the fact that the ship had a crew change, loaded equipment and ship’s spares. It was apparently fully provisioned and refueled for a search mission. However, 7808 is now underway to Cape Town and the second ship Armada 7806, which was with her is heading back to Singapore.
It would appear that Ocean Infinity’s patience is now running out. This is despite the fact the company really wants to find MH370 to bring closure to the relatives.
It is possible that if Malaysia signs in the next two weeks, one of the two Armada ships could head for the search area but the search window for the first half of 2025 is rapidly closing. Right now, three tropical cyclones are in the Indian Ocean and the search window for the next two weeks looks very challenging.
The performance of the Malaysian Government is quite frankly a disgrace and clearly it doesn’t want to find MH370. It is reneging on its international obligations.
It is 10 months since negotiations started with new credible evidence of the location of MH370. The government had agreed that if credible evidence was presented it would give a new search the go-ahead. The Malaysia government agreed in 2018 to a no-find/no-fee deal with Ocean Infinity.
However, what is different now is the work of Richard Godfrey and his team who have pinpointed a precise location of MH370 based on his refinement of WSPR technology.
It is clear that there are people in the Malaysian Government who do not want this aircraft found as they know it was pilot suicide – a fact that the airline knew from the night it was lost almost 11 years ago.
I repeat Malaysia’s performance in the search for MH370 is a disgrace and it is walking away from its obligations under the laws governing aviation.
Finally, I wish to sincerely apologize to the relatives of those lost on MH370 for giving you false hope that the search was underway. Richard, Blaine Gibson and I remain convinced that a search will be conducted but it may take longer than we had all hoped.
I can assure you however we will continue to keep the pressure on Malaysia to do the right thing – something right now, it seems incapable of.
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