After rigorous searches in 2017 and 2018 found nothing, many thought the fate of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 and the 239 people it was carrying would remain a mystery forever – but now that might be set to change
It has been more than 10 years since Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 vanished, with the Boeing 777 and all 239 people on board disappearing never to be seen again and sparking one of the greatest mysteries of recent times.
After rigorous searches in 2017 and 2018, and a 495-page report which failed to draw any conclusions about what happened to the plane, many thought the fate of the aircraft and the people it was carrying would remain a mystery forever.
But now fresh hope has been sparked by the announcement of a new search more than a decade after MH370 disappeared from radar screens. American company Ocean Infinity has said it will undertake the search, trawling the ocean floor using robot subs with a payment of $70million if they find substantial wreckage.
The news re-opens speculation into the mystery of the missing airliner, which has spawned dozens of conspiracy theories as to the fate of the plane, from aliens to sabotage.
What happened to MH370?
Flight MH30, a Boeing 777 aircraft, took off from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8 2014 carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew. About 40 minutes after it took off the last transmission was made, with Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah signing off as the plane entered Vietnamese air space, saying: “Good night, Malaysian three seven zero”.
Shortly after this message was received the plane’s transponder was switched off, making easy tracking of the flight impossible. Military radar then showed the plane leaving its flightpath, heading back over northern Malaysia and Penang island, and then out into the Andaman Sea towards the tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
After a final turn south all contact with the aircraft was lost, it never appeared on radar screens again.
The search for MH370
A massive search was launched with Malaysia, Australia and China collaborating to comb a 120,000sqkm area of the southern Indian Ocean. The effort lasted two years and cost about $143million, but it was eventually called off after finding no trace of flight MH370.
In 2018 another search was undertaken, this time by US exploration firm Ocean Infinity which offered the Malaysian Government a deal that they would only get paid if they found the wrecked plane. The three-month search covered 112,000sqkm to the north of the first search zone, but it turned up nothing and ended in May 2018.
Now Ocean Infinity is set to try again with Malaysia’s transport minister announcing today that the government had agreed in principle to resume the search. A new proposal from the company would see them paid $70million if substantive wreckage is found. The new search would expand the previous search area by 15,000sqkm, take 18 months, and could start as early as January, the firm said.
Suspected debris of MH370
More than 30 pieces of debris suspected to have come from aircraft have been washed up and gathered along the coast of Africa and on islands in the Indian Ocean. Of these, only three wing fragments have been confirmed to be from MH370. Experts have tried to use the locations where these were found in analysis of ocean currents to trace them back to a possible origin, so far without success.
In July 2018 a 495-page report was published into the disappearance. Although it did not offer any conclusions about what had happened to the plane, investigators did say they thought it was likely taken off course on purpose, by whoever was at the controls.
