Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – The Malaysian government said on Wednesday that American marine robotics company Ocean Infinity would soon begin searching the seabed. Malaysia Airlines Flight 370more than a decade since the plane disappeared over the Indian Ocean.
MH370, a Boeing 777, disappeared from air traffic radar 39 minutes after departure from Kuala Lumpur en route to Beijing, China, on March 8, 2014. The disappearance of a packed passenger plane without a trace sparked one of aviation’s most puzzling mysteries.
Despite years of multinational searches, investigators still don’t know exactly what happened to the plane or its 239 passengers and crew.
The Malaysian government said on Wednesday that Ocean Infinity would resume its search from December 30, about eight months after the last effort was abandoned. Malaysia’s Minister of Transport announced at the beginning of April that’s about it six week search The US company was winding down, saying it was “not the season” to work offshore. The minister said then that efforts would resume towards the end of the year.
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The government said on Wednesday that Ocean Infinity would begin continuous searches for a total of 55 days from December 30 in areas most likely to find the missing plane.
Herculean search efforts in the southern Indian Ocean, where the plane is believed to have gone down, have turned up almost nothing so far. Apart from a few small pieces washed ashore, no body or large debris has ever been found.
Below is what we know about the deadly plane tragedy.
“Good night, Malaysian Three Seven Zero”
The pilot’s last radio call to Kuala Lumpur—a simple “Good evening, Malaysian Three Seven Zero”—was the last communication before the plane crossed into Vietnamese airspace. It was never checked with there controllers.
A few minutes later, the plane’s transponder, which broadcasts its location, went off. Military radar showed the plane drifting back over the Andaman Sea, and satellite data suggested it flew for hours, possibly until it ran out of fuel, before crashing in a remote part of the southern Indian Ocean.
Theories about what happened range from hijacking to cabin depressurization or electrical failure. There were no distress calls, no rescue requests, no evidence of technical failure, or evidence of severe weather.
Malaysian investigators cleared passengers and crew in 2018, but did not rule out “illegal interference”. Authorities said someone deliberately cut communications and diverted the plane.
Who was on MH370 when it disappeared?
MH370 was carrying 227 passengers, including five young children, and 12 crew members. Most of the passengers were Chinese, but there were also citizens of the United States, Indonesia, France, Russia and elsewhere.
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Among those on board were two young Iranians traveling with stolen passports, a group of Chinese calligraphy artists, 20 employees of the US technology company Freescale Semiconductor, a stunt double for actor Jet Li and several families with young children. Many families lost several members.
The greatest underwater search in history
Search operations began in the South China Sea between Malaysia and Vietnam, then expanded to the Andaman Sea and the southern Indian Ocean.
Australia, Malaysia and China he coordinated the largest underwater search in historyCovering about 46,000 square kilometers of seabed in Western Australia. Aircraft, sonar-equipped ships and robotic submarines scoured the ocean for signs of the plane.
Suspected signals from the plane’s black box came from other sources, and no debris was found. First confirmed waste a Flaperon was found on the island of Réunion In July 2015, with additional parts later found on the east coast of Africa. The search was suspended in January 2017.
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In 2018, the US marine robotics company Ocean Infinity resumed the hunt under a “no-find, no-fee” agreement, focusing on areas identified through studies of drifting debris, but it ended without success.
Difficult search conditions in the Indian Ocean
The failure of such an extensive search to turn up any clues is because no one knows exactly where to look. The Indian Ocean is the world’s third largest, and the search was conducted in a difficult area where searchers encountered bad weather and an average depth of about 2.5 kilometers.
It’s not uncommon for planes to disappear in the deep sea, but when they do, finding their remains can be very difficult. Over the past 50 years, dozens of airplanes have gone missing, according to the Aviation Safety Network.
The Malaysian government in March gave Ocean Infinity the green light for another “no-find, no-fee” contract to begin a seabed search operation in a newly identified 5,800 square kilometer area of the ocean. Ocean Infinity will be paid $70 million for its work, but only if the wreckage is found.
It is unclear whether the company has new evidence of the plane’s location. He said he will use new technology and has worked with many experts to analyze the data and narrow down the search area to the safest site.