A US-based company is searching for the wreckage of Malaysian Airlines flight 370, which disappeared with 239 passengers and crew.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370
Image: The search for Flight 370 is continuing

The Malaysian government has approved a new attempt to find the wreckage of flight MH370 - nearly four years after the plane disappeared.

In one of the biggest mysteries in modern aviation, the Boeing 777 vanished over the southern Indian Ocean on 8 March 2014 with 239 people on board.

The bulk of the Malaysia Airlines aircraft has never been found, and in January 2017, the search was discontinued.

:: 'I miss my mum ever day': MH370 missing remembered

A member of staff at Inmarsat in front of a screen showing the southern Indian Ocean to the west of Australia
Image: The southern Indian Ocean to the west of Australia

Debris found in the Indian Ocean has been identified as coming from the missing aircraft, but nothing larger than an outboard wing flap has been discovered.

Now a US-based company called Ocean Infinity will continue the search on a "no find, no fee" basis, sailing from Durban in South Africa.

On Saturday, the Malaysian transport minister Liow Tiong Lai said the government was committed to continuing with the search, but that he didn't want to give too much hope to the next of kin.

"The basis of the offer from Ocean Infinity is based on 'no cure, no fee'.

More from World

"That means they are willing to search the area of 25,000 square kilometres pointed out by the expert group near the Australian waters."

Ocean Infinity said the vessel was taking advantage of favourable weather to move toward "the vicinity of the possible search zone".

More top stories