The hunt for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is set to be revived eight years after it disappeared with 238 people on board. Robotic vessels are being built in Vietnam for US company Ocean Infinity, which plans to use them in a new search of the Southern Indian Ocean next year.

The vessels require no crew and the hunt will be conducted on a 'no-find, no-fee' basis.

Ocean Infinity chief executive Oliver Plunkett told family and friends of those on board: "There’s a lot of work for us to do to get the ships ready, to talk to the Malaysian government, to get ourselves organised.

“Hopefully we’ll enjoy the same support from the Australian authorities as we did last time. The regulatory framework for a ship that can be driven without a person on board doesn’t exist so we’d need the support of the Australian government to operate those too.”

Ocean Infinity last searched for MH370 in 2018, after the suspension of the official Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) search on 17 January 2017 more than two years after it began.

Former ATSB program director Peter Foley said less than 100,000 square kilometres was left to be examined “where MH370 could possibly be” and that could take as little as 100 days with Ocean Infinity’s technology.

“I’ve said for quite some time that I believed the official search ended prematurely,” Mr Foley said.