Have any new searches or underwater expeditions after 2018 found additional MH370 wreckage?
Executive summary
No confirmed additional MH370 wreckage was found after 2018; the main underwater searches through 2018 and the short Ocean Infinity 2018 effort turned up no seabed wreckage, though multiple debris pieces washed ashore and three wing fragments have been formally linked to MH370 [1] [2]. Renewed private searches using Ocean Infinity’s improved robotics were approved and mounted in 2025 and resumed again in late 2025, but available reporting shows those efforts had not (as of the cited sources) produced new confirmed seabed wreckage [3] [4] [5].
1. What was found after 2018 — debris washed ashore, not the wreck on the seabed
After the official multinational seabed search ended in January 2017, investigators and citizen searchers continued to recover pieces of aircraft wreckage on Indian Ocean shores; by 2017–2018 several fragments were collected and investigators confirmed three wing-related pieces as coming from MH370 [6] [7] [1]. Those surface debris finds offered important forensic clues but were not the same as finding the main fuselage on the ocean bottom [6] [7].
2. The 2018 Ocean Infinity seabed sweep found no wreckage
Ocean Infinity’s private, “no find, no fee” search in 2018 covered large areas north of previously searched zones but concluded in May 2018 without locating the aircraft on the seabed, and Malaysia formally ended the government-led hunt that year [1] [2]. Ocean Infinity donated seabed mapping data to global projects, but the company’s 2018 operation did not produce a confirmed seabed discovery [1].
3. Renewed searches in 2025–2025: new technology, same unanswered result in available reporting
Malaysia green-lit a renewed search in 2025 under another “no-find, no-fee” deal with Ocean Infinity to scan a 15,000 km2 southern Indian Ocean area; operations in early 2025 began and were paused for weather, and a further 55‑day search was scheduled to resume on 30 December 2025 [3] [4] [8] [5]. Reports stress Ocean Infinity has upgraded robotics and autonomy since 2018, but the sources provided do not report a confirmed seabed wreckage discovery from these 2025 operations [9] [10] [11].
4. Why debris finds don’t equal locating the wreck on the seabed
Debris that reaches shore can travel thousands of kilometres on complex currents; investigators used drift modelling and barnacle analyses to try to backtrack origins, but marine biology raised more questions — barnacle growth patterns on some pieces suggested shorter exposure times than expected, complicating precise impact location estimates [12]. In short, confirmed beach debris provides clues but not conclusive seabed coordinates for the main wreckage [12] [3].
5. Competing perspectives and hidden incentives
Families and advocacy groups pushed for renewed searches; Ocean Infinity operates a “no-find, no-fee” contract — a commercial incentive to locate wreckage but also a risk-management structure that shifts cost if unsuccessful [13] [8]. Some journalists and independent investigators argue the new technology makes a discovery more likely [9], while others emphasize the vast area already scanned and the many uncertainties in drift and acoustic modelling [2] [3].
6. Misinformation risks: photos and viral claims
Social posts occasionally circulate images claiming an underwater plane is MH370; fact-checks show many such images are unrelated wrecks (for example a Red Sea L‑1011) and do not represent MH370 being found [14]. Readers should treat viral underwater photos skeptically and check authoritative reporting before assuming a discovery.
7. What the cited sources do not say (limitations)
The supplied reporting does not provide any source that states the main MH370 fuselage or seabed wreckage was located after 2018; available sources also do not include any official post-2018 forensic confirmation tying newly found beach fragments beyond the three confirmed wing pieces mentioned earlier [1] [2]. Detailed, up-to-the-minute outcomes of the December 2025 resumed search are not present in these specific citations.
Bottom line: debris continued to wash ashore after 2018 and private searches resumed with upgraded robotics, but the sources provided report no confirmed discovery of the main wreckage on the seabed after 2018; renewed Ocean Infinity searches in 2025 were underway or planned and had not been reported in these sources to have found the aircraft [1] [2] [4] [5].