Malaysia is negotiating with a firm from the United States to resume the search for the missing MH370 flight, The New Daily reported.

“The Malaysian government has accepted an offer from Ocean Infinity to search for the missing plane, entering into a ‘no find, no fee’ arrangement,” Australia’s Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Darren Chester was quoted as saying on Thursday.

In January, Malaysia, China and Australia had jointly called off their operation to find the Kuala Lumpur-Beijing Malaysia Airlines flight, which went missing on March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board.

Australia will provide technical assistance to the Malaysian government and the seabed exploration company. Chester said he was hopeful that this search may get some results, but he did not want to raise “hopes for the loved ones of those on board”.

Ocean Infinity, Dutch firm Fugro and an unidentified Malaysian company had offered to help Malaysia with the search.

Mysterious disappearance

After the Boeing 777 aircraft was reported missing on March 8, 2014, several teams from different countries began to look for it in a 1.2 lakh-sq-km area of the Indian Ocean. Over $150 million (around Rs 973 crore) was spent on the mission, making it the most expensive search operation in aviation history.

The hunt for the aircraft was also riddled with controversy, with many experts saying the wrong area was being searched. Debris from the aircraft had been found on the French island of Reunion, in Mozambique, South Africa, Rodrigues Island and Mauritius, among other sites.