Under a “no find, no fee” arrangement with the exploration company Ocean Infinity, the search will encompass 15,000 square kilometers in the southern Indian Ocean.
If the wreckage is located, the company will get $70 million (£56 million), according to Transport Minister Loke Siew Fook.
In 2014, Flight MH370, carrying 239 passengers, vanished while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. One of the biggest aviation mysteries in the world, its disappearance still plagues the passengers’ relatives.
No wreckage has been discovered in the years since it disappeared, despite intensive searches. Prior initiatives, such as a $150 million (£120 million) multinational search, came to an end in 2017.
