US FIRM CONFIRMS RESUMPTION OF SEARCH FOR WRECKAGE OF FLIGHT MH370 THAT VANISHED IN 2014

MOSCOW, Dec 26 (Bernama-Sputnik/RIA Novosti) -- The United States (US) research firm Ocean Infinity confirmed on Friday that it was resuming the search for the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which disappeared in 2014, reported Sputnik/RIA Novosti.

With backing from the Malaysian government, the company is restarting the hunt for the missing MH370 aircraft, an Ocean Infinity representative said.

The representative added that, due to the sensitive nature of the operation, all official updates will come from the Malaysian government.

A specialised Ocean Infinity vessel is en route to Australia's west coast to resume the search, the news agency found out after analysis of marine tracking data.

The 86-metre (282-feet) Singapore-flagged Armada 86 05 departed from its anchorage near the port of Kwinana on December 23 and is heading to the southern Indian Ocean, where a search for the missing aircraft had been underway.

The ship serves as a launch platform for autonomous underwater vehicles capable of mapping the deep seabed.

The active search phase is set to begin on December 30.

In March, Malaysian authorities agreed with Ocean Infinity for new efforts to find the MH370 wreckage.

In April, Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook said that Ocean Infinity had paused the search due to off-season conditions.

In the early hours of March 8, 2014, a Boeing 777-200 aircraft operated by Malaysia Airlines on flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members, disappeared from radar screens. It is believed that the plane crashed in the southern Indian Ocean.

However, the search operation was unable to determine the crash site. Despite a three-year search operation funded by several countries, no wreckage was ever found.

--BERNAMA-SPUTNIK/RIA NOVOSTI