MH370 search in jeopardy again as new PM Mahathir cuts costs

The search for MH370 is in peril once again as new PM Mahathir Mohamad reins in government spending. After several extensions of what began as a three-month “no cure, no fee” contract signed by US exploration company Ocean Infinity in January, the government has given extra time until May 29 to wrap up the search for the jet missing since 2014, Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook said Wednesday. Malaysia agreed to pay the firm as much as $70m if it solves what has become modern aviation’s biggest mystery. Ocean Infinity’s search vessel, Seabed Constructor, has already scoured 86,000 square km of seabed in the southern Indian Ocean without success, according to the latest weekly report on the operation. That area includes the patch that investigators identified as the aircraft’s most likely resting place before the search was abandoned in 2017. “We are approaching the end of the current search, and the weather also soon becomes a limiting factor, but we’re currently maximizing our efforts whilst we can,” a representative for Ocean Infinity said. The contract to find the jet is under review, Mahathir said earlier in the day after his first cabinet meeting.<br/>