Everything you need to know about the latest search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370

A new search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is underway, more than 10 years after the aircraft’s mysterious and baffling disappearance. 

On March 8, 2014, the Boeing 777 went missing while travelling from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing with 249 passengers on board — most of whom were Chinese nationals, but the flight also included citizens from Malaysia, Canada, France and elsewhere. 

To this day, little is known about the disappearance. The plane likely crashed somewhere in the southern Indian Ocean, according to satellite data analysis, and a few small fragments washed ashore on the east African coast and Indian Ocean islands. Otherwise, two previous large-scale searches failed to come up with any significant findings. No bodies or large wreckage have ever been found, and no one knows why the plane went down.

But now, a new search is underway, reigniting long-held hopes that the painful mystery might finally be solved.

Here’s everything you need to know about the latest hunt for the plane that seemingly vanished without a trace:

WATCH | Renewed hope for MH370 search:

Why there is renewed hope we might find Flight MH370

Eleven years after the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, the Malaysian government has approved a new search for the plane. One company is so certain new technology will help them find it that they’ve wagered $70 million.

Who’s conducting the search?

Earlier this month, the Malaysian Transport Ministry said Texas-based marine robotics firm Ocean Infinity would resume a deep-sea hunt for the missing plane on Dec. 30.

The latest search had started in March, but the operation was paused weeks later due to bad weather.

The firm is conducting the search under a “no find, no fee” contract with the Malaysian government. That means, Ocean Infinity could earn $70 million — if substantive wreckage is tracked down.

Multiple reports say it’s unclear whether Ocean Infinity has new information about the plane’s whereabouts. But the firm’s CEO Oliver Punkett said that the company improved its technology following a fruitless search conducted in 2018 under a similar deal.

Punkett has said his team is working with many experts to analyze data, and they’ve narrowed the search area to the most likely site, according to reports. 

Malaysia’s Transport Ministry confirmed that the resumed search would be in “a targeted area assessed to have the highest probability of locating the aircraft.” The precise location hasn’t been disclosed, but the search will be conducted in a sprawling 15,000-square-kilometre area of the southern Indian Ocean.

How long will the latest deep-sea search take?

It’s slated to start intermittently on Tuesday, with the operation lasting 55 days. 

According to Scientific American, the company is deploying a fleet of autonomous underwater vehicles for the search. The vehicles hover tens of metres above the seabed and map terrain down to a depth of some 6,000 metres.

Here’s what we already know

The last transmission from the plane was about 40 minutes after it took off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing. Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah signed off with “Good night, Malaysian three seven zero,” as the plane entered Vietnamese airspace and failed to check in with its controllers.

Shortly thereafter, the plane’s transponder was turned off, so it couldn’t be easily tracked.

Military radar showed the plane left its flight path to fly back over northern Malaysia and Penang Island, and then out into the Andaman Sea toward the tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

The aircraft then turned south and all contact was lost.

Previous searches were largely unsuccessful 

Searches have been conducted on and off since the plane first vanished, but mostly in vain.

Shortly after its disappearance, Malaysia, Australia and China launched an underwater search in a 120,000-square-kilometre area in the southern Indian Ocean, based on data of automatic connections between an Inmarsat satellite and the plane.

The search cost about $183 million Cdn and was called off after two years in January 2017, with no traces of the plane found.

So far, some 30 pieces of suspected aircraft debris have been collected, but only three wing fragments have been confirmed to be from MH370.

Report found manipulation, mistakes

A report published in 2018 said that the Boeing 777’s controls were likely deliberately manipulated to take it off course, but investigators were unable to determine who was responsible. 

Malaysian investigators cleared the passengers and crew.

The report also issued recommendations to avoid a repeat incident after it identified mistakes made by the Kuala Lumpur and Ho Chi Minh City air traffic control centres.

Investigators stopped short of offering any conclusions about what happened to MH370, saying that depended on locating the wreckage.

Possible theories 

Plausible theories range from a hijacking to power failure, with additional conspiracy theories trailing the tragedy ever since it occurred. 

Still, questions abound considering there was no distress call, ransom demand, severe weather or evidence of technical failure.