KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Over ten years ago, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared mysteriously, igniting one of the most perplexing cases in aviation history.
Despite extensive multinational searches, the fate of the flight and its 239 individuals aboard remains unknown.
On Wednesday, Malaysia’s government announced that American marine robotics firm Ocean Infinity will restart its seabed search for the lost aircraft on December 30, renewing optimism about locating the plane.
A large-scale search in the southern Indian Ocean, where the aircraft is presumed to have crashed, revealed little, with only a few small fragments washing up on shore. No bodies or significant wreckage have been recovered.
Here’s what we know about this tragic aviation incident.
‘Good night, Malaysian Three Seven Zero’
The Boeing 777 vanished from radar 39 minutes after taking off from Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing on March 8, 2014.
The pilot’s last message to Kuala Lumpur was, “Good night, Malaysian Three Seven Zero,” marking the plane’s last communication before it entered Vietnamese airspace and failed to report to controllers there.
Shortly thereafter, the aircraft’s transponder ceased functioning. Military radar indicated the plane made a U-turn over the Andaman Sea, while satellite data suggested it continued flying for several hours, likely until it ran out of fuel before plunging into a desolate part of the southern Indian Ocean.
Theories About the Incident
Speculations regarding the disappearance include hijacking, cabin depressurization, or mechanical failure. There were no distress calls, ransom demands, signs of technical malfunctions, or adverse weather conditions.
Malaysian investigators cleared the passengers and crew in 2018 but did not dismiss the possibility of “unlawful interference.” Authorities suggested that someone might have intentionally shut down communications and diverted the flight.
Passengers from Various Nations
MH370 had 227 passengers and 12 crew members, including five young children. While the majority were Chinese, there were also individuals from the U.S., Indonesia, France, Russia, and more.
Among those on board were two Iranian men traveling with stolen passports, a group of Chinese calligraphers, 20 employees of the U.S. tech firm Freescale Semiconductor, a stunt double for actor Jet Li, and several families with children. Many families suffered the loss of multiple members.
The Largest Underwater Search
Search efforts began in the South China Sea, later expanding to the Andaman Sea and the southern Indian Ocean.
Australia, Malaysia, and China coordinated the most extensive underwater search in history, covering approximately 120,000 square kilometers (46,000 square miles) off the western coast of Australia. Aircraft, sonar-equipped vessels, and robotic submarines scoured the ocean looking for the plane’s remains.
Sounds believed to originate from the plane’s black box turned out to be from other sources, and no wreckage was located. The first confirmed debris was a flaperon found on Réunion Island in July 2015, with additional fragments surfacing along Africa’s east coast. The search operations were suspended in January 2017.
Challenges in Locating Remains
The extensive search yielded few clues largely because the precise location of the crash is unknown. The Indian Ocean is the world’s third-largest ocean, and the search area was challenging, marked by poor weather and depths averaging around 4 kilometers (2.5 miles).
Though it’s uncommon for planes to vanish in deep waters, when they do, finding remains can be incredibly difficult. The Aviation Safety Network reports that in the past 50 years, dozens of planes have disappeared.
Resumption of Search by U.S. Company
In March, the Malaysian government approved a new “no-find, no-fee” agreement with Ocean Infinity to continue the seabed search at a newly designated area of 15,000 square kilometers (5,800 square miles). Ocean Infinity will receive $70 million only if wreckage is found.
The search had been halted in April due to adverse weather conditions. However, the government recently confirmed that Ocean Infinity will intermittently resume the search starting December 30 for a total of 55 days, focusing on areas deemed most likely to yield results.
It remains uncertain whether the company has obtained new evidence regarding the plane’s location, although they intend to employ new technology and collaborate with various experts to refine the search area to the most probable site.
