What hope is there in the new search for missing flight MH370?

The search for flight MH370, which mysteriously disappeared 11 years ago, has resumed after its most recent failure last April, with new hopes...

More than a decade ago, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 vanished without a trace, sparking one of aviation's most baffling mysteries. Despite years of multinational search efforts, investigators still don't know exactly what happened to the plane or its 239 passengers and crew, according to AP.

On Wednesday (local time) December 3, the Malaysian government said that the US marine robotics company Ocean Infinity will continue its underwater search for the missing plane on December 30, rekindling hopes that the plane may finally be found.

A massive search in the southern Indian Ocean, where the plane is believed to have crashed, has turned up little. Apart from a few small pieces of debris that washed ashore, no bodies or large pieces of wreckage have been found.

The Boeing 777 disappeared on March 8, 2014.

PHOTO: AP

"Good night, Malaysia Three Seven Zero"

The Boeing 777 disappeared from air traffic radar 39 minutes after departing Kuala Lumpur for Beijing on March 8, 2014. The pilot's final radio call to Kuala Lumpur—"Good night, Malaysia Three Seven Zero"—was the last communication before the plane disappeared. Minutes later, the plane's transponder, which transmits its location, was turned off. Military radar showed the plane turned back over the Andaman Sea, and satellite data showed it continued flying for hours, possibly until it ran out of fuel, before crashing into a remote part of the southern Indian Ocean.

Theories about what happened range from hijacking to a loss of cabin pressure or a power outage. There was no distress call, ransom demand, evidence of mechanical failure or severe weather.

Malaysian investigators in 2018 confirmed the safety of passengers and crew but did not rule out the possibility of “unlawful interference.” Authorities said someone had deliberately cut off communications and diverted the plane.

MH370 was carrying 227 passengers, including five children and 12 crew members. Most of the passengers were Chinese, but there were also citizens from the United States, Indonesia, France, Russia and elsewhere. Among those on board were two young Iranians traveling on stolen passports, a group of Chinese calligraphers, 20 employees of the American technology company Freescale Semiconductor, a stunt double for actor Jet Li and several families with young children.

Prayers for passengers on flight MH370

The largest underwater search in history

The search began in the South China Sea between Malaysia and Vietnam, then expanded to the Andaman Sea and the southern Indian Ocean. Australia, Malaysia and China coordinated the largest underwater search in history, covering about 120,000 square kilometers of seabed off the western coast of Australia. Aircraft, sonar-equipped ships and robotic submarines scoured the ocean for traces of the plane.

Signals believed to be from the plane's black boxes turned out to come from other sources, and no debris was found. The first piece confirmed to be a flaperon was discovered on the island of Réunion in July 2015, with additional debris later found along the east coast of Africa. The search was suspended in January 2017.

In 2018, the US marine robotics company Ocean Infinity resumed the search under a "no find, no fee" agreement, focusing on areas identified through debris drift research, but ended without success.

The challenge of locating

One reason such an extensive search has failed to turn up any clues is that no one knows exactly where to look. The Indian Ocean is the world's third largest body of water, and the search is being conducted in a difficult area where searchers have encountered poor weather and an average depth of about 4km.

Planes don't disappear in the deep ocean very often, but when they do, locating the wreckage can be difficult. Dozens of planes have disappeared over the past 50 years, according to the Aviation Safety Network.

New hopes placed on search later this month

PHOTO: AP

US company continues to search

The Malaysian government in March gave the green light to another “no find, no fee” contract with Ocean Infinity to continue the seabed search at a new 15,000 square kilometer location under the ocean.

Ocean Infinity will be paid $70 million if it finds the plane wreckage. However, the search was suspended in April due to bad weather. The government said Wednesday that Ocean Infinity will continue its search intermittently from December 30, for a total of 55 days, in target areas deemed most likely to find the missing plane.

It is unclear whether the company has any new evidence of the plane's location. The company said it will use new technology and has worked with experts to analyze the data and narrow the search to the most likely location. But the reopening of the search has given hope to families and those interested in one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/hy-vong-nao-trong-cuoc-tim-kiem-moi-chuyen-bay-mh370-mat-tich-185251204064423934.htm