The Malaysian government may be poised to relaunch the underwater search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. The aircraft, carrying 239 people, vanished 10 years ago, and now Anthony Loke, the country’s Transport Minister, confirmed that the government remains in advanced talks with a US-based marine exploration company about the possibility of restarting the search.

Ocean Infinity has made what officials describe as a “credible” proposal to search a new area in the southern Indian Ocean, off the west coast of Australia. Loke confirmed the country was in advanced talks with US-based marine exploration company Ocean Infinity to search a 15,000 sqm zone in the southern Indian Ocean.

“Based on the latest information and analysis from experts and researchers, Ocean Infinity’s search proposal is credible and can be considered by the Malaysian government as the flight’s official registrar,” Mr Loke said in Parliament on Tuesday. The terms and costs requested are in the same draft agreement currently being negotiated between the government and Ocean Infinity.

“Should it be finalised, cabinet approval will be required, and I will make a public announcement.” Ocean Infinity’s search would be on a “no find, no fee” basis. In March 2014, the aircraft went missing on its way to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital. If they successfully locate the craft it would earn $70million (£54.28m) – similar to the previous agreed search terms.

Search efforts to date have been costly. In 2014, Malaysia, Australia, and China teamed up to conduct the initial underwater search spanning 120,000 sq km in the southern Indian Ocean. It cost around £143m before being called off in January 2017.

The US firm Ocean Infinity made their first attempt to locate the craft in 2018. They had a similar “no-cure, no-fee” deal and their three-month search covered 112,000 sq km north of the first target area. Defence analyst Dr Lam Choong Wah from Universiti Malaya put forward the idea of Malaysia cooperating with China in the latest search.

The analyst told local outlet Strait Times: “As most of the passengers on MH370 were Chinese, Malaysia should not hesitate to collaborate with Beijing.”