Key information on the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 as search efforts resume

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) Over ten years ago, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared without a trace, creating one of aviations most enduring enigmas. Despite extensive multinational search efforts, the fate of the aircraft and its 239 passengers and crew remains unknown.

On Wednesday, Malaysian authorities announced that the American marine robotics firm Ocean Infinity will restart an underwater search for the plane on December 30, raising hopes that the missing aircraft could finally be located. Previous searches in the southern Indian Ocean, where the jet is thought to have crashed, yielded minimal results. Aside from a few fragments washing ashore, no large debris or human remains have been recovered.

The Boeing 777 vanished from radar 39 minutes after taking off from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014. The pilots last transmissionGood night, Malaysian Three Seven Zerowas the final contact before the plane entered Vietnamese airspace and failed to report to local controllers. Moments later, the aircrafts transponder stopped broadcasting its position. Military radar suggested the plane turned back over the Andaman Sea, and satellite data indicated it continued flying for hours, potentially until running out of fuel, before crashing into a remote section of the southern Indian Ocean.

Theories about the disappearance range from hijacking to cabin depressurization or electrical failure. There were no distress calls, ransom demands, evidence of mechanical issues, or severe weather conditions reported.

Malaysian investigators in 2018 cleared the passengers and crew of wrongdoing but did not dismiss the possibility of unlawful interference. Officials have suggested that communications were deliberately cut and the plane intentionally diverted.

MH370 carried 227 passengers, including five children, and 12 crew members. Most passengers were Chinese, but others came from the United States, Indonesia, France, Russia, and other countries. Among those on board were two Iranians using stolen passports, Chinese calligraphy artists, 20 employees of U.S. tech company Freescale Semiconductor, a stunt double for actor Jet Li, and multiple families with young children, with many families losing more than one member.

The initial search covered the South China Sea between Malaysia and Vietnam, later expanding to the Andaman Sea and southern Indian Ocean. Australia, Malaysia, and China coordinated the largest underwater search in history, surveying roughly 120,000 square kilometers (46,000 square miles) of seabed off western Australia. Aircraft, ships equipped with sonar, and robotic submarines combed the ocean for signs of the wreck. Signals initially thought to be from the black box proved to be false, and no significant wreckage was found. The first confirmed debris, a flaperon, was discovered on Runion Island in July 2015, with additional fragments later found along Africas east coast. The search was halted in January 2017.

In 2018, Ocean Infinity resumed the hunt under a no find, no fee agreement, targeting areas suggested by debris drift analysis, but the mission concluded without success. One challenge is that the exact location of the plane remains unknown. The Indian Ocean, the worlds third largest, presented extreme difficulties, including rough weather and an average depth of approximately 4 kilometers (2.5 miles). While aircraft disappearing in deep oceans is rare, locating them when it occurs can be extremely challenging. Over the past 50 years, several planes have vanished under similar conditions.

Earlier this year, the Malaysian government approved a new no-find, no-fee contract with Ocean Infinity to search a fresh 15,000-square-kilometer (5,800-square-mile) area. The company will receive $70 million only if wreckage is found. Although the search was paused in April due to adverse weather, authorities confirmed that Ocean Infinity will resume intermittent operations from December 30 for a total of 55 days, focusing on zones with the highest probability of locating the missing plane. The company has not disclosed any new evidence but intends to apply advanced technology and expert analysis to refine the search area.

Author: Sophia Brooks