The very discreet company Ocean Infinity is looking for, for the third time, the MH370, the plane that disappeared, in March 2014. This English company had worked for the National Navy in the summer of 2019, finding, in three days, the wreckage of the submarine « Minerve » that had disappeared for more than fifty years. The evening edition reveals the amount of the contract, kept confidential until then.
For three weeks, Ocean Infinity has been searching for the wreck of flight MH370, which disappeared in March 2014. At the moment, the English company, which is in its third research campaign, is unable to unravel one of the greatest mysteries of modern aviation.
Ocean Infinity, no matter how discreet and secret it is, is not totally unknown in France. For example, she worked with TotalEnergies in Angola in 2020. But above all, she found, in three days, a military submarine missing off Toulon for fifty years.
In 1968, the Minerve submarine disappeared during an exercise. Hervé Fauve, five years old, has just lost his father André, commander of the submarine. Fifty later, he mobilized the families of the missing, the media and elected officials to relaunch the search.
July 21, 2019 will remain engraved in his memory: the wreck is located, by 2,300 m of depth. A feat accomplished by Ocean Infinity, in just three days.
The National Navy had first entrusted the research to Ifremer (French Research Institute for the Exploitation of the Sea). But between a busy schedule that limited the research period, a large area to cover, complicated weather and the use of a single fifteen-year-old underwater drone, the public institute had failed to locate the wreck.
Ocean Infinity, with extraordinary financial and technical resources, had then taken over. According to Hervé Fauve, she had mapped « 947 km² in three days » in the search area.
The details linking Ocean Infinity to the National Navy had in any case never been disclosed. »The total cost of this contract […] amounted to $2.6 million (about €2.3 million at the time), financed by the National Navy, »
the Navy today reveals to Ouest-France. A contract made, more precisely, between Ocean Infinity and Shom, the Navy’s Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service.
« At the end of the consultation, it was found that only the Ocean Infinity company had submitted an application file, »
reveals the Navy. « After a phase of negotiations, »
Ocean Infinity’s offer « was deemed admissible […] for a firm tranche of seven days, »
concludes the National Navy.
An essential contract for the families of missing sailors, but with a very low remuneration compared to that promised by Malaysia to find flight MH370: 60 million euros if the plane is found. And zero, otherwise.
source : ouest France
