Additional Coverage:
- Search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight resumes, reviving hope of answers delayed for more than a decade (nbcnews.com)
Search for MH370 Resumes After Decade-Long Mystery
BEIJING – More than ten years after its disappearance, the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, carrying 239 people, is set to resume. The U.S. marine robotics company Ocean Infinity will undertake seabed search operations for 55 days, as announced by Malaysia’s Ministry of Transport.
Ocean Infinity plans to deploy advanced underwater vehicles, deep-sea drones, and cutting-edge scanning technology across a 6,000-square-mile area of the Indian Ocean seabed. It remains unclear whether the company possesses new intelligence regarding the location of the Boeing 777, which vanished from radar on March 8, 2014, shortly after departing Kuala Lumpur for Beijing. Two-thirds of the passengers were Chinese, with Malaysians and Americans also on board.
Ocean Infinity confirmed to NBC News that a new search would commence but declined to offer further details, citing the “important and sensitive nature” of the operation. Calls to the Malaysian Ministry of Transport on Tuesday went unanswered.
The resumption of the search, previously halted due to adverse weather, has reignited hope for families seeking answers and closure. The absence of a distress call, ransom demand, or any indication of technical malfunction or severe weather has fueled numerous conspiracy theories. The plane’s location-tracking transponder ceased broadcasting minutes after the pilot’s final transmission.
This aviation mystery triggered the most extensive underwater search in history. Over the years, only a few dozen pieces of suspected debris have been discovered on Indian Ocean islands and the African coast. Despite the presumption of all on board being deceased, no human remains or significant wreckage have been recovered.
The initial search, conducted by the governments of Australia, Malaysia, and China from 2014 to 2017, mapped a 46,000-square-mile area of the southern Indian Ocean floor, roughly the size of Ohio, but yielded few results. In 2018, Ocean Infinity conducted a three-month search under a “no find, no fee” arrangement, a condition that also applies to the current operation.
Meanwhile, lawsuits against Malaysia Airlines continue. A Beijing court recently ordered compensation for eight Chinese families this month.
Jiang Hui, a 51-year-old Beijing resident whose mother was on the missing flight, expressed his full support for Ocean Infinity’s renewed efforts. He believes the plane will be found within “five to 10 years at most” and called for the U.S. government to assist, given the American citizens on board. “As the Chinese saying goes, alive or dead, we must see them with our own eyes,” he stated.
Professor Charitha Pattiaratchi, a coastal oceanography expert at the University of Western Australia, conveyed optimism that the wreckage will be located with current technology, despite the lack of a precise target location. “There is always hope,” he remarked, drawing a parallel to the Titanic, which took a century to locate despite its known sinking position.