4th time lucky? Malaysia to restart search for missing flight MH370, 10 years later

The latest search operation will be spread over 15,000 square kilometres and take place over 18 months. The company, which stands to gain $70 million if it finds “substantive wreckage”, has said the optimum time to search is between January and April.

Why is search for MH370 restarting 10 years later?

The government said it had processed new information from several experts and the Texas-based company was optimistic about locating the remains of the plane.

The search will be on the seabed of a new area in the southern Indian Ocean, but no exact search location is given, the Reuters reported.

Under the arrangement, the Malaysian government won’t have to pay Ocean Infinity till sufficient wreckage is found and verified.

Who all were aboard MH370 when it disappeared?

Flight MH370 was a Boeing 777 airliner that had 227 passengers and 12 crew members. The flight disappeared while flying to Kuala Lumpur from Beijing on March 8, 2014.

Over the years, some debris was found along the coast of Africa and on islands in the Indian Ocean, but only a part of it could be confirmed as belonging to the fateful flight.

What happened to MH370?

In 2018, the Malaysia government released a 495-page report with some findings about the missing flight. It was possible that someone had manipulated the flight controls of the Boeing 777, but investigators could not establish responsibility. They said exactly what happened to the flight could be confirmed only when the wreckage was found and analysed.

Amid conspiracy theories that the experienced pilot had crashed the plane on purpose, investigators said they found nothing in the “background, financial affairs, training and mental health of both the captain and co-pilot” that will give rise to any suspicion.

What is known about the last MH370 flight?

Nearly 40 minutes after it took off from Kuala Lumpur for its flight to Beijing, Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah signed off with “Good night, Malaysian three seven zero”. This last transmission was received just as the plane entered Vietnamese air space.

Sometime later, the plane’s transponder was turned off, which made tracking it difficult.

But military radar had some data. The plane is said to have deviated from its planned flight path. It instead flew back over “Malaysia and Penang Island, and then out into the Andaman Sea towards the tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra”. After this, the plane went south, and no contact could be made. That is all that is known about its fateful flight.

Who all were on the last MH370 flight?

Aboard its last flight were over 150 Chinese, 50 Malaysians and other citizens from countries such as France, Australia, Indonesia, India, the United States, Ukraine and Canada.

What did the past search attempts throw up?

Malaysia, Australia and China combed 120,000 sq km in the southern Indian Ocean after the disappearance. This underwater search cost over $140 million and used data from “automatic connections between an Inmarsat satellite and the plane,” the Reuters reported. This attempt was called off in January 2017. No traces of the plane were found.

Later, Malaysia enlisted the services of Ocean Infinity twice, but to no avail.