Search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 search may be used for oil, gas, and mineral exploration. Two features within the search area—Broken Ridge and the Kerguelen Plateau—potentially contain oil and gas deposits, while a field of manganese nodules—which also contain iron ore, nickel, copper, and cobalt—on the seafloor could also be exploited. Geoscience Australia published some of the underwater survey data in March 2017. Search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 The disappearance on 8 March 2014 of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, a scheduled international passenger flight from Kuala Lumpur International Airport to Beijing Capital International Airport, prompted a large, multinational search in Asia and the southern
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 officially declared Flight 370 an accident with no survivors, a move that would allow compensation claims to be made. The first lawsuit related to the disappearance was filed in October 2014—before Flight 370 was declared an accident—on behalf of two Malaysian boys whose father was a passenger, for negligence in failing to contact the aircraft soon after it was lost and for breach of contract for failing to bring the passenger to his destination. Additional lawsuits against Malaysia Airlines have been filed in China and Malaysia. Malaysia Airlines offered "ex gratia" condolence payments soon after the disappearance. In China, families