• A new search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is being launched, Malaysia's transport minister said.
• It's being conducted by Ocean Infinity, a robotics company that previously led a search in 2018.
• It will receive $70 million if the wreckage of the 2014 disappearance is found within 18 months.

A new search is being launched for MH370, the Malaysia Airlines flight that disappeared in March 2014.

Malaysia's transport minister, Anthony Loke, told a Tuesday press conference that Ocean Infinity, a marine robotics firm, is conducting the search. He added that the contracts were still being finalized.

Ocean Infinity, which is based in the US and UK, previously conducted a search for the missing Boeing 777 in 2018.

It took place over an area measuring 25,000 square kilometers, or around 9,600 square miles, while Loke has said the new search would cover 15,000 square kilometers.

In a December press conference, when the Malaysian government agreed to resume the search, Loke said that Ocean Infinity would receive $70 million if the wreckage was located within 18 months.

Oliver Plunket, the CEO of Ocean Infinity, told the New Straits Times last March: "This search is arguably the most challenging, and indeed the most pertinent one out there."

He added that innovations in robotics and other technologies had further advanced its search capabilities.

Grace Nathan, a 36-year-old Malaysian whose mother was on board the plane, told Agence France-Presse: "We're very relieved and pleased that the search is resuming once again after such a long hiatus."

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014, when it changed course from its scheduled path. It is still unknown what led to the plane's disappearance.

The jet, with 239 people on board, had entered Vietnamese airspace when its transponder was turned off, meaning air traffic controllers could no longer track it.

Military radar showed it then flew back across northern Malaysia, before turning south over the Indian Ocean.

For around six hours, it continued to ping an Inmarsat satellite, which helped to determine a search area.

The first searches continued until 2017, focusing on vast areas of the Indian Ocean. Debris was found on beaches in Réunion and Madagascar.