Efforts to locate Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which disappeared on March 8, 2014, have resumed more than a decade after the aircraft went missing. The Boeing 777 that went missing initially took off from Kuala Lumpur, bound for Beijing with 227 passengers and 12 crew on board. The flight has since become one of aviation’s biggest enigmas. Families of the stranded passengers are in limbo, desperately seeking closure and answers about what happened.
The victims, the majority of whom were Chinese nationals, included 50 Malaysians and seven Australians. Also on board were other nationalities including citizens of France, Indonesia, India, the United States, Ukraine, and Canada. The diverse demographic of passengers highlights the global impact of this tragedy, as families from around the world continue to seek answers.
Soon after takeoff, the plane’s flight path turned back towards northern Malaysia. After making landfall, it then passed over the southern part of Myanmar into the Andaman Sea before turning south. Military radar recorded three major diversions in MH370’s flight path which have caused much speculation, investigation, and search by official and independent organizations.
That first underwater search was conducted by the ATSB from October 2014 through January 2017. During its most recent search in March-April of this year, the ATSB focused its search on four “hotspots.” These hotspots are located about 1,500 kilometers west of Perth. However, even after detailed salvage efforts, the aircraft could not be found.
A 495-page report by the Malaysian government’s Flight 370 Safety Investigation team indicated that the plane’s controls were likely manipulated deliberately to divert it off course. This later discovery led investigators to suspect foul play. The report then neglected to name who exactly was behind the manipulation.
In the years since, researchers have uncovered DHOL successes—pieces of debris from MH370 found along the coast of Africa. They’ve found flakes on islands in the southwestern Indian Ocean. These pieces have shed some light but have not brought us closer to an answer regarding the aircraft’s whereabouts.
UK- and US-based marine robotics company Ocean Infinity has recently launched a new and thrilling search endeavor. They’ll be searching an area the size of Bangladesh in the southern Indian Ocean. This search will be conducted on a “no find, no fee” basis. In exchange, it enables the company to take on this complex challenge without putting upfront financial burden on the families they serve.
Blaine Alan Gibson is an adventurer, who has spent the past few years searching for missing MH370 debris. He too placed great importance on this rekindled search attempt. He stated,
“That’s in the family’s interest, in the flying public’s interest, and it’s in Malaysia’s interest because it’s important for Malaysia to be able to put this behind them and move on. They need to find the plane and the truth.”
The emotional toll this mystery takes on families resonates even more profoundly with those who lost loved ones. Narendran, a relative of one of the passengers, spoke about the living suffering that continues after waiting and grief. He remarked,
“There’s bewilderment, there is perplexity. I mean, one is still quite incredulous when one thinks about it. So I suppose it’s quite natural as human beings to kind of agonise, to think about questions that remain unanswered.”
Narendran wanted to stress that this renewed search isn’t just about reopening deep, old wounds. It’s about understanding the duty owed to those passengers and their families, and improving the safety of aviation broadly. He noted,
“This renewed search is not about reopening old wounds, it is about responsibility: responsibility to the passengers, to the families, and also to the integrity of aviation safety. And we hope that this time the search mission would bear some positive results.”
Fuad Sharuji—who was the crisis director of MH370 while at Malaysia Airlines—stressed the importance of providing answers, especially for those flight diversions. He stated,
“Also why the flight diverted so many times, diverted over Igari, diverted over Penang, and then also diverted over Andaman. So there were three diversions and we want to know why.”
The families have expressed their intentions very clearly, hoping that finding MH370 will bring Singh closure and dignity in the midst of such uncertainty. Narendran shared his desire for a resolution:
“The search is important personally because I think it could point to knowing a little more, if not the totality of the answer, at least a little more about what may have happened.”
The continued efforts to find MH370 reflect the dedication of both individuals like Gibson and Narendran and organizations that seek to uncover truths hidden beneath the ocean’s surface. While some believe they may finally receive answers regarding their loved ones’ fate, others view this search as a way to settle their unsettled feelings from nearly twelve years ago.
