A decade after the MH370 flight disappeared with 239 people on board, experts are still not sure about the reason and location of the crash.
“Good Night. Malaysian Three Seven Zero.”
Those were the last six words recorded from the cockpit of Beijing-bound Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 via radio transmission on March 8, 2014. Exactly within few minutes, the flight disappeared from air-traffic control radar screens and never found even after 10 years. Strange, mysterious, horrifying, whatever you may call it, but, this incident has totally shook the aviation industries globally.
Investigators initially said someone intentionally turned off the communications system of the flight and took it somewhere else. Extensive research on satellite data also mentioned that MH370 have plunged into a remote area of the southern Indian Ocean. However, the world’s most expensive search mission costing over $150 million was totally fruitless.
In this article, we will discuss about a detailed timeline of the World’s most expensive search operation to find the aircraft.
24 March 2014:
On 18 March, a surface search was initiated in the southern Indian Ocean led by Australian team. On 24th March, Malaysian Prime Minister announced that Flight 370 “We have to assume beyond all reasonable doubt that MH370 has been lost and none of those on board survived.”
26 June 2014:
Australian search team authorities issued a preliminary report theorising that the flight flew on autopilot mode after a catastrophic event leading to the crew members becoming incapacitated, possibly due to insufficient oxygen.
28 August 2014:
Australia’s deputy prime minister, Warren Truss, announced that the flight “might have turned south a little earlier than we have previously expected.”
October 2014:
Advanced underwater search involving ships dragging sonar devices or towfish through the water about 100m above the seabed became operational to hunt for debris.
January 2015:
Senior Boeing 777 captain Simon Hardy suggested the final resting place is in the Indian Ocean.
28 January 2015:
Malaysia officially declared “the aircraft exhausted its fuel over a defined area of the southern Indian Ocean.”
5 August 2015:
Malaysia’s prime minister, Najib Razak, said that “a wing part that washed up on the French island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean”, which is believed to be the first trace of the plane since it disappeared.
August 2015:
France government initiated a renewed air and sea search operation around Réunion. Some unidentified debris were spotted which later confirmed to be not related to flight MH370.
March 2016:
The Australian government spotted two pieces of debris in separate places in Mozambique, which they mentioned “highly likely to have come from MH370”.
16 May 2016:
The Australian investigation team said: “There is a decreasing possibility the missing plane will be found.” The team came to that conclusion after searching over 105,000 sq km of seafloor in the southern Indian Ocean for two years. It was believed that debris spotted on the shorelines of South Africa, Mauritius and Mozambique were from MH370 aircraft.
September 2016:
Investigation team confirmed that the large piece of debris spotted on the island of Pemba, off the coast of Tanzania, in June, 2016 belonged to MH370.
October 2016:
A small piece of an aircraft wing discovered on Mauritius was identified as MH370 flight’s material. However, any of those debris has helped precisely locate the main underwater wreckage.
January 2017:
The underwater search for MH370 came to an end. A joint statement co-signed by the transport ministers of Malaysia, China and Australia was published.
3 October 2017:
Australian investigators submitted their final report on the mysterious disappearance of MH370, mentioning “The inability to bring closure for victims’ families was a great tragedy and almost inconceivable in the modern age.”
January 2018:
The US seabed exploration company Ocean Infinity resumed search for MH370 with a Norwegian ship under a “no find, no fee” deal with Malaysia.
July 2018:
Malaysian government released an official investigation report concludimg “The plane was manually turned around in mid-air, rather than being under the control of autopilot, and that unlawful interference by a third party could not be ruled out.”
This ruled out the possibilities of suicide mission or mechanical failure of the flight.
Is there any hope?
Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke said: “The Malaysian government is committed to the search (for MH370) and the search must go on,” at a remembrance event on Sunday.
Malaysian government made a deal with Ocean Infinity to search the southern Indian Ocean, offering to pay up to $70 million if they locate and find the aircraft.
Families of those on board have found some ways to cope with the grief in last 10 years, but one thing is constant: they deserve an answer about the plane’s real fate.
