Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — Malaysia’s authorities mentioned Wednesday that American marine robotics firm Ocean Infinity would quickly resume the seabed seek for Malaysia Airways Flight 370, greater than a decade after the airplane vanished over the Indian Ocean.
MH370, a Boeing 777, disappeared from air-traffic radar 39 minutes after departing from Kuala Lumpur enroute to Beijing, China, on March 8, 2014. The packed passenger jet’s disappearance with out a hint sparked certainly one of aviation’s most baffling mysteries.
Regardless of years of multinational searches, investigators nonetheless have no idea precisely what occurred to the airplane or its 239 passengers and crew.
The Malaysian authorities mentioned Wednesday that Ocean Infinity would resume its search from Dec. 30, about eight months after the final effort was deserted. Malaysia’s transport minister introduced in early April {that a} roughly six-week search by the U.S. agency was ending, saying it wasn’t “the season” for the work at sea. The minister mentioned on the time that efforts would resume across the finish of the 12 months.
A map reveals the principle areas referring to the 2014 disappearance of Malaysia Airways Flight 370.
John SAEKI and Nicholas SHEARMAN/AFP by way of Getty
The federal government mentioned Wednesday that Ocean Infinity would resume looking out intermittently from Dec. 30 for a complete of 55 days, in focused areas believed to have the very best chance of discovering the lacking plane.
Herculean search efforts within the southern Indian Ocean, the place the jet is believed to have gone down, have so far turned up just about nothing. Other than a number of small fragments that washed ashore, no our bodies or massive wreckage have ever been recovered.
Under is a take a look at what we all know in regards to the lethal aviation tragedy.
“Good night, Malaysian Three Seven Zero”
The pilot’s final radio name to Kuala Lumpur — a easy, “Good night, Malaysian Three Seven Zero” — was the ultimate communication earlier than the airplane crossed into Vietnamese airspace. It by no means checked in with controllers there.
Minutes later, the airplane’s transponder, which broadcasts its location, shut down. Navy radar confirmed the jet flip again over the Andaman Sea, and satellite tv for pc knowledge instructed it continued flying for hours, probably till gasoline exhaustion, earlier than crashing right into a distant part of the southern Indian Ocean.
Theories about what occurred vary from hijacking to cabin depressurization or energy failure. There was no misery name, ransom demand, proof of technical failure or extreme climate.
Malaysian investigators in 2018 cleared the passengers and crew however didn’t rule out “unlawful interference.” Authorities have mentioned somebody intentionally severed communications and diverted the airplane.
Who was on MH370 when it vanished?
MH370 carried 227 passengers, together with 5 younger kids, and 12 crew members. Most passengers had been Chinese language, however there have been additionally residents from the US, Indonesia, France, Russia and elsewhere.
Jiang Hui (R), a relative of a passenger who was on Malaysia Airways Flight 370, stands with different passenger members of the family as he speaks to media after a gathering in Beijing, China, March 8, 2025, on the eleventh anniversary of the flight’s disappearance.
PEDRO PARDO/AFP/Getty
Amongst these aboard had been two younger Iranians touring on stolen passports, a bunch of Chinese language calligraphy artists, 20 staff of U.S. tech agency Freescale Semiconductor, a stunt double for actor Jet Li and a number of other households with younger kids. Many households misplaced a number of members.
Largest underwater search in historical past
Search operations started within the South China Sea between Malaysia and Vietnam, then expanded to the Andaman Sea and the southern Indian Ocean.
Australia, Malaysia and China coordinated the most important underwater search in historical past, masking roughly 46,000 sq. miles of seabed off western Australia. Plane, vessels outfitted with sonar and robotic submarines scoured the ocean for indicators of the airplane.
Indicators considered from the airplane’s black field turned out to be from different sources, and no wreckage was discovered. The primary confirmed particles was a flaperon found on Réunion Island in July 2015, with extra fragments later discovered alongside the east coast of Africa. The search was suspended in January 2017.
Director Common of Civil Aviation Malaysia, Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, left, shakes hand and exchanges the Memorandum of Understanding paperwork with CEO of Ocean Infinity Restricted, Oliver Plunkett, proper, through the signing ceremony of the MH370 lacking airplane search operations between Malaysian authorities and Ocean Infinity Restricted in Putrajaya, Malaysia, Jan. 10, 2018.
AP
In 2018, U.S. marine robotics firm Ocean Infinity resumed the hunt below a “no find, no fee” settlement, specializing in areas recognized by way of particles drift research, however it ended with out success.
Difficult search situations within the Indian Ocean
One motive such an in depth search could have failed to show up clues is that nobody is aware of precisely the place to look. The Indian Ocean is the world’s third largest, and the search was performed in a tough space, the place searchers encountered unhealthy climate and common depths of round 2.5 miles.
It’s not widespread for planes to vanish within the deep sea, however once they do stays may be very onerous to find. Over the previous 50 years, dozens of planes have vanished, in line with the Aviation Security Community.
Malaysia’s authorities gave the inexperienced gentle in March for an additional “no-find, no-fee” contract with Ocean Infinity to renew the seabed search operation throughout a newly recognized 5,800-square-mile website within the ocean. Ocean Infinity shall be paid $70 million for its work, however provided that wreckage is found.
It’s unclear if the corporate has new proof of the airplane’s location. It has mentioned it could make the most of new know-how and has labored with many specialists to investigate knowledge and slender the search space to the most certainly website.
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