*

Last search for Malaysia Airlines plane ended in 2018

*

Malaysia to pay $70 million if substantive wreckage found

*

Exploration firm confident of credibility of new data

*

Malaysia has said wreckage vital to uncover what happened

(Adds details paragraph 8-9, quotes paragraphs 12-13, 17-18,

background paragraphs 19-22)

By Ashley Tang

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Malaysia has agreed to

resume the search for the wreckage of missing Malaysia Airlines

Flight MH370, its transport minister said on Friday, more than

10 years after it disappeared in one of the world's greatest

aviation mysteries.

Flight MH370, a Boeing 777 carrying 227 passengers and 12

crew, vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8,

2014.

"Our responsibility and obligation and commitment is to the

next of kin," Transport Minister Anthony Loke told a press

conference.

"We hope this time will be positive, that the wreckage will

be found and give closure to the families."

Malaysian investigators initially did not rule out the

possibility that the aircraft had been deliberately taken off

course.

Debris, some confirmed and some believed to be from the

aircraft, has washed up along the coast of Africa and on islands

in the Indian Ocean.

Loke said the proposal to resume the search in the southern

Indian Ocean came from exploration firm Ocean Infinity, which

had conducted the last search for the plane that ended in 2018.

A contract would be signed to cover an 18-month period and

the firm would receive $70 million if wreckage found is

substantive, he said, adding the search will be on the seabed of

a new area covering 15,000 sq km (5,790 sq miles).

No precise location of the new search area was given.

More than 150 Chinese passengers were on the flight. Others

included 50 Malaysians as well as citizens of France, Australia,

Indonesia, India, the United States, Ukraine and Canada, among

others.

Relatives have demanded compensation from Malaysia Airlines,

Boeing ( BA ), aircraft engine maker Rolls-Royce and the Allianz

insurance group among others.

CREDIBLE DATA

Loke said Malaysia had assessed new data on the possible

location from multiple experts and Ocean Infinity was confident

about the chances of locating the wreckage.

"The data has all been presented. Our team has gone through

and they felt that it is credible," he said.

Malaysia engaged Ocean Infinity in 2018 to search in the

southern Indian Ocean, but it failed on two attempts.

That followed an underwater search by Malaysia,

Australia and China in a 120,000 sq km (46,332 sq mile) area of

the southern Indian Ocean, based on data of automatic

connections between an Inmarsat satellite and the plane.

The new arrangement would be on a no-find-no-fee principle,

whereby Malaysia would not be required to pay Ocean Infinity

unless sufficient wreckage is found and verified.

Asked about the prospects of locating all of the plane, Loke

said it would be unfair to expect a concrete commitment.

"At this point of time, nobody knows for sure. It has been

over 10 years," he said.

MH370's last transmission was about 40 minutes after it took

off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing. The captain signed off as the

plane entered Vietnamese air space and soon after its

transponder was turned off.

Military radar showed the plane left its flight path to fly

back over northern Malaysia then out into the Andaman Sea before

turning south, then all contact was lost.

A 495-page report into the disappearance in 2018 said the

Boeing 777's controls were likely deliberately manipulated to go

off course, but investigators could not determine who was

responsible and stopped short of offering a conclusion on what

happened, saying that depended on finding the wreckage.

Investigators have said there was nothing suspicious in the

background, financial affairs, training and mental health of

both the captain and co-pilot.