Malaysia's government says it has agreed in principle to resume the search for a passenger plane that disappeared 10 years ago in one of aviation's greatest mysteries.
Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disappeared in March 2014 while traveling to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur with 239 people on board.
Efforts to find the wreckage of the Boeing 777 have been scattered over the years, and hundreds of families of those on board remain haunted by the tragedy.
On Friday, Malaysia's Transport Minister Anthony Loke said the cabinet had approved in principle a $70m (£56m) deal with US-based marine exploration firm Ocean Infinity to find the plane.
Under the no-find, no-fee agreement, Ocean Infinity will only be paid when the wreckage is found.
Search in 2018 by Ocean Infinity under similar conditions failed after three months.
A multinational effort that cost $150 million ended in 2017. after two years of searching vast waters.
Although the government has “in principle” accepted Ocean Infinity's proposal, Loke said negotiations on specific terms of the deal are still ongoing and will be finalized early next year.
The new search will cover an area of 15,000 sq. km in the southern Indian Ocean based on new data that Kuala Lumpur found “credible”, the minister said.
“Hopefully this time it will be positive,” Locke said, adding that finding the wreckage would bring closure to the families of those on board.
Relatives of MH370 passengers have welcomed the Malaysian government's approval of a new search.
“I am very happy with the news… It feels like the best Christmas present ever,” Jaquita Gonzalez, the wife of MH370 flight controller Patrick Gomez, told the New Straits Times.
“This announcement evokes mixed emotions – hope, gratitude and sadness. After nearly 11 years, the uncertainty and pain of not having answers has been incredibly difficult for us,” Intan Maizura Otaman also told the newspapers. Her husband, Mohd Hazrin Muhammad Hasnan, was a member of the cabin crew.
Jiang Hui, whose mother was on the plane, told Reuters the Malaysian government should take a “more open approach” to the search to allow more players to take part.
In a statement, Ocean Infinity chief executive Oliver Plunkett said the Malaysian government's decision was “great news”, adding: “We look forward to sharing further updates in the new year once we have finalized the details and the team is ready to go.”
Flight MH370 took off from Kuala Lumpur in the early hours of 8 March 2014. He lost communication with air traffic control less than an hour after takeoff and radar indicated he had deviated from the planned flight path.
Investigators generally agree that the plane crashed somewhere in the southern Indian Ocean — although it's unclear why that happened.
Pieces of debris believed to be from the plane have washed ashore in the Indian Ocean in the years since the disappearance.
Numerous conspiracy theories have surfaced surrounding the plane's disappearance, from speculation that the pilot deliberately shot down the plane to claims that it was shot down by foreign militaries.
2018 investigation of the plane's disappearance found that the plane's controls were likely deliberately manipulated to veer it off course, but did not draw conclusions about who was behind it.
Investigators said at the time that “the answer can only be conclusive if the remains are found.”