KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is negotiating terms with US-based seabed exploration firm Ocean Infinity, which has proposed that the search for MH370 begin next month or in January, when it is summer in the Southern Hemisphere.



The Malaysian government will make a decision soon, after the transport minister meets his counterparts from Australia and China the latest next month.



This is according to the director-general of Malaysia's Department of Civil Aviation on the sideline of an event at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Wednesday (Nov 15).



Under the proposed "No cure, No fee" structure, Ocean Infinity will only be paid if the aircraft is found.

MH370 vanished three years ago somewhere in the southern Indian Ocean en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur, with 239 people aboard.

Its disappearance has become one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries.



Malaysia, Australia and China ended a AUS$200 million (US$157 million) deep-sea search for the plane in January without any trace of the aircraft being found.

Apart from Ocean Infinity, Malaysia has received two other proposals including one from Dutch Fugro and an unidentified Malaysian company offering to continue the search.