The Malaysian government has confirmed that the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which disappeared 11 years ago, will be relaunched on December 30th. The search is expected to last for approximately two months, aiming to unravel one of the biggest mysteries in aviation history.
The American marine robotics company “Ocean Infinity” began a new search in March this year but had to halt due to severe weather conditions in April.
The Malaysian Ministry of Transport announced that the new search will commence on December 30th and will continue intermittently for 55 days.
Ocean Infinity signed a contract with Malaysia stating “no find, no fee.” Under this agreement, Ocean Infinity will search a new 15,000 square kilometer area, only receiving a $70 million reward upon the discovery of wreckage.
In 2018, Ocean Infinity conducted a three-month search but did not locate the aircraft wreckage. The search location at that time was in the southern Indian Ocean off the coast of South Africa.
The specific location of the latest search by Ocean Infinity has not been disclosed. The Malaysian Ministry of Transport stated that the search will target “evaluated areas believed to have the highest possibility of finding the aircraft.”
The MH370 flight was a Boeing 777 that took off from Kuala Lumpur on March 8, 2014, destined for Beijing. The last communication from the pilots to air traffic control was at 1:19 am that day. The aircraft disappeared from civilian radars, and its transponder was turned off. Military radars detected the aircraft turning southwest.
Satellite data indicates that the plane continued to fly for approximately seven hours before vanishing in the southern Indian Ocean.
In late July to early August 2015, partial remnants of the MH370 wing were found near the French overseas territory of Reunion Island. However, searches conducted in 2016 and 2017 yielded no significant discoveries.
At the time of the plane’s disappearance, there were 227 passengers and 12 Malaysian crew members on board. Among the passengers, up to 153 were Chinese nationals, with others from Malaysia, France, Australia, Indonesia, India, the United States, Ukraine, and Canada.
The MH370 disappearance remains one of the biggest mysteries in aviation history, continuing to haunt the families of the passengers on board. Over the years, many have called for new search efforts in hopes of finding the wreckage of the aircraft.
Various speculations have emerged regarding the reasons for the plane’s disappearance, including the possibility of the pilot intentionally deviating from the flight path, fires or oxygen deprivation affecting the autopilot, or hijacking.
A 2018 investigation suggested that the aircraft’s control systems may have been intentionally manipulated to deviate from the course, but no definitive conclusions were reached. Investigators at that time stated: “Only by finding the wreckage can we draw concrete conclusions.”