Malaysia to resume search for flight MH370 that went missing 10 years ago

The search for the illfated Malaysian Airline flight MH 370 is all set to restart following a credible proposal presented by a United States USbased ocean exploration firm that identifies a fresh search area in the southern Indian Ocean The aircraft mysteriously vanished 10 years ago with 239 people on boardThe search was called off in 2018 after an extensive operation which lasted for four years during which multiple wreckage parts were washed off the shores of French Reunion Island were found However the final resting place of the main wreckage was never located in the original search areaThe new search proposalThe proposal adheres to a No find no fee structure which means that Malaysia would only incur costs if the wreckage of flight MH370 is locatedThe new search area outlines a search plan for a 15000 square kilometre sq kmzone off the coast of Western Australia A Texasbased marine robotics company which previously claimed that they have scientific evidence of the missing flights final resting place submitted a proposal to the Malaysian government over the new search operationOn Tuesday Malaysias Transport Minister Anthony Loke confirmed in the Parliament that advanced talks with the firm Ocean Infinity are on over the search operation While talking to the media late on November 7 he again confirmed the plans to reopen the search for flight MH370 According to transport minister Loke the proposal is in the final stages of approval and an announcement regarding the new search operations will be made soon after the cabinet nodBased on the latest information and analysis from experts and researchers Ocean Infinitys search proposal is credible and can be considered by the Malaysian Government as the flights official registrar The terms and costs requested are in the same draft agreement is currently being negotiated between the government and Ocean Infinity Should it be finalised the cabinet approval will be required and I will make a public announcement soonrdquo said LokeMaped location at Reunion island where the first wreckage was found investigation report screenshotWreckage parts found so farThe parts of the missing aircraft wreckage were found at multiple locations including the French Reunion Island where a flaperon was discovered on July 29 2015Following the discovery of the flaperon multiple individuals started to gain interest in combing the coasts of the countries near Reunion Island This led to the discovery of multiple parts of the aircraft wreckage A horizontal stabiliser panel was found on the Paluma sandbank in Vilankulo on the Mozambique coast in February 2016 This was followed by an engine nose cowling segment which was found in Mossel Bay on the South Africa coast a month later A main cabin interior panel was also found on Rodrigues Island on Marautiaus coast the same month while another wing flap was discovered on Pemba Island on the Zanzibar coast in June 2016 Three months later unconfirmed debris including panels were later found in SainteLuce on the Madagaskar coast followed by the discovery of a large piece of wreckage which was found washed up on Farkhar one of the islands on the Seychelles coastTimeline2014March 8 Flight MH370 a B777200 aircraft departs from Kuala Lumpur at 1241 am local time to Beijing with 227 passengers and 12 crew onboard Of the 239 passengers onboard the illfated flight 153 were from China followed by 50 from Malaysia seven from Indonesia six from Australia five from Indiafour from France three from the United States of America and two each from Canada New Zealand and Ukraine while one each from the Netherlands Russia and Taiwan The plane is last seen on military radar at 214 am when it was heading west over the Strait of Malacca Half an hour later the airline announces that it has lost contact with the plane which was to land at its destination at 630 amMarch 9 Search efforts focus on the Gulf of Thailand It is reported that two passengers were travelling on stolen European passports prompting concerns that terrorists might have been responsible for the incident Authorities later clear all passengers of any link to terrorismMarch 10 Search efforts scour an area within a 50nauticalmile radius of the aircrafts last known position and the northern Strait of Malacca A Vietnamese plane had spotted a rectangular object that was thought to be one of the missing planes doors but a search in the Andaman Sea finds no wreckage Evidence begins to mount that the flight had headed west after contact with air traffic controllers was lostPossible source of floating debris based on ocean currents map investigation report screenshotMarch 15 Malaysias Prime Minister Najib Razak says MH370 was deliberately diverted and continued flying for more than six hours after contact with the ground was lost Authorities expand their search for the missing jet from Central Asia to the southern Indian Ocean and search the homes of the pilots Zaharie Ahmad Shah and Fariq Abdul HamidMarch 24 Family members of passengers onboard the flight march to the Malaysian embassy in Beijing demanding answers after authorities say they have concluded that the missing plane crashed in the Indian Ocean leaving all 239 people onboard Many of the families learn the news via a text message that stated We have to assume beyond all reasonable doubt that MH370 has been lost and none of those on board survivedApril 24 The search and rescue phase becomes a search and recovery operation A few days later the search operation moves to an underwater phase using an autonomous underwater vehicle and a bathymetry survey covering an area around 692 km long and 80 km wideJune 26 Australian authorities issue a preliminary report in which they theorise that the plane flew on autopilot after a catastrophic event led to the crew becoming incapacitated possibly owing to oxygen starvationAugust 28 Australias Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss says the aircraft might have turned south a little earlier than we have previously expected as it is announced that airline staff tried to contact the flight crew by satellite phone after the plane disappeared from radarSeptember 19 It is announced that the underwater search will resume in a remote southern stretch of the Indian Ocean by SeptemberendPossible mapped routes of MH370 based on satellite data investigation report screenshotOctober The new underwater search involves ships dragging sonar devices called towfish through the water about 100 m 330ft above the seabed to hunt for wreckage The towfish which transmit data in real time are dragged slowly through the water by thick cables up to 10km long If something of interest is spotted on the sonar the towfish will be hauled up and fitted with a video camera then lowered again2015January Senior Boeing 777 captain Simon Hardy suggests the missing aircrafts final resting place is in the Indian Ocean just outside the far south western edge of the core search area On January 28 Malaysia officially declares the disappearance an accident and its passengers and crew presumed dead 327 days after it vanished It concludes that the aircraft exhausted its fuel over a defined area of the southern Indian OceanMarch 7 Malaysias transport minister says that if the undersea search fails to find anything by the end of May investigators will reexamine data and come up with a new plan The Australian Government also says that the search of the priority zone where the flight is thought to have gone down is likely to be completed by the end of MayJuly 23 Martin Dolan the chief commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau says the plane will be found within the next year Two vessels continue search operations in the southern Indian Ocean with more than 21000 of the 46332 sq miles 120000 sq km search area already coveredAugust 5 Malaysias Prime Minister Najib Razak says a wing part that washed up on the French island of Reacuteunion in the Indian Ocean came from missing MH370 confirming the first trace of the plane since it vanished Authorities in France the US and Australia stopped short of confirming Malaysias claim The same month France launches a renewed air and sea search around Reacuteunion in the hope of finding more debris The search ends after 10 days The Maldives also joins a regional search for wreckage following reports of islanders spotted unidentified debris However this debris is later confirmed to be unrelated to MH3702016March The Australian Government says two pieces of debris made in separate discoveries in Mozambique are highly likely to have come from MH370 after analysis finds both pieces to be consistent with panels from a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 aircraft Darren Chester the minister for infrastructure and transport says the discovery of debris on the east coast of Africa is consistent with drift modelling and further affirms our search efforts in the southern Indian Ocean He adds there are 25000 sq km of the underwater search area still to be searchedMay 16 The Australian authority leading the search for MH370 says there is a decreasing possibility that the missing plane will be found More than 105000 sq km of seafloor in the southern Indian Ocean has been searched as on May 11 leaving a remaining search area of just 15000 sq km Several pieces of debris found on the shorelines of South Africa Mauritius and Mozambique are believed to be from the missing planeSeptember It is confirmed that a large piece of debris discovered on the island of Pemba off the coast of Tanzania in June was from MH370October A piece of an aircraft wing found on Mauritius an Indian Ocean island is identified as belonging to the missing plane Malaysian and Australian officials say The piece of wing flap flaperon was found in May and subsequently analysed by experts at the Australian Transport Safety Bureau So far none of the debris has helped narrow down the precise location of the main underwater wreckage Investigators need to find that in order to locate the flight data recorders that could help explain why the plane veered so far off courseFlaperon found on French Reunion island screenshot from the Investigation reportDecember The families of those lost aboard MH370 comb the beaches of Madagascar in the hope of finding more debris from the plane2017January The underwater search for missing MH370 comes to an end a joint statement cosigned by the transport ministers of Malaysia China and Australia states The Australian Transport Safety Bureau had searched a 120000 sq km area in the southern Indian Ocean a remote expanse of ocean west of Perth with waves sometimes between 15 and 20 metres and depths of up to 6 km for nearly twoandahalf yearsOctober 3 Australian investigators deliver their final report on the disappearance of MH370 saying the inability to bring closure for victims families was a great tragedy and almost inconceivable in the modern age The search despite finding no new evidence of MH370s whereabouts helped to eliminate a large stretch of ocean as the location The report stated that the understanding of MH370s location is better now than it has ever been2018January The search for MH370 resumes after US seabed exploration company Ocean Infinity charters a Norwegian ship under a No find no fee arrangement with Malaysia A research ship leaves South Africa bound for a search area off the coast of PerthMay Ocean Infinity expands its search having exhausted a 25000km priority area identified by Australian experts as MH370s most likely resting placeJuly An official investigation report is released in Malaysia It concludes that the plane was manually turned around in midair rather than being under the control of autopilot and that unlawful interference by a third party could not be ruled out However it dismisses theories that had suggested the pilot and first officer brought the plane down in a suicide mission and also rules out mechanical failure as a cause