What we know as a new MH370 search restarts after 11 years

The disappearance nearly 12 years ago of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 with 239 people on board remains one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries.

The Boeing 777 vanished on 8 March 2014 while travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. More than 150 Chinese nationals and around 50 Malaysians were among the passengers, alongside citizens of France, Australia, Indonesia, India, the United States, Ukraine and Canada.

Satellite analysis indicated that the aircraft likely crashed somewhere in the southern Indian Ocean off the coast of western Australia. Despite two major search operations, no significant findings were made.

A new search for the missing aircraft will begin on 30 December 2025.

The final transmission from the aircraft came around 40 minutes after take-off, when Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah signed off with “Good night, Malaysian three seven zero” as the plane entered Vietnamese airspace.

Moments later, the aircraft’s transponder was switched off, preventing it from being tracked by civilian radar.

Military radar data later showed the aircraft diverting from its flight path, turning back across northern Malaysia and Penang Island, then heading out over the Andaman Sea towards the tip of Sumatra. It subsequently turned south and all contact was lost.

Malaysia, Australia and China launched an underwater search in a 120,000 sq km (46,332 sq miles) area in the southern Indian Ocean, based on data of automatic connections between an Inmarsat satellite and the plane.

The search, which cost about A$200 million ($131.54 million), was called off after two years in January 2017, with no traces of the plane found.

In 2018, Malaysia accepted a "no-cure, no-fee" offer from U.S. exploration firm Ocean Infinity for a three-month search, meaning the company would only get paid if it found the plane.

That search covered 112,000 sq km (43,243 square miles) north of the original target area and also proved fruitless, ending in May 2018.

More than 30 pieces of suspected aircraft debris have been collected along the coast of Africa and on islands in the Indian Ocean, but only three wing fragments were confirmed to be from MH370.

Most of the debris was used in drift pattern analysis in the hopes of narrowing down the aircraft's possible location.

Investigation Report 

A 495-page report published in July 2018 concluded that the aircraft’s controls were likely deliberately manipulated to redirect it off course, although investigators could not determine who was responsible.

The report also identified shortcomings in the actions of air traffic control centres in Kuala Lumpur and Ho Chi Minh City, issuing recommendations to prevent a repeat incident.

Investigators stressed that a definitive conclusion about the aircraft’s fate would only be possible if the wreckage were found.

Conspiracy Theories 

The failure to locate MH370’s crash site has fuelled widespread speculation, ranging from theories about technical failure or remote interference to more extreme claims involving foreign plots or extraterrestrial activity.

Some aviation experts in recent years have argued that the aircraft was deliberately flown off course by an experienced pilot. However, investigators found nothing unusual in the backgrounds, financial records, training or mental health of either the captain or the co-pilot.

Search Resumption 

In December 2024, Malaysia announced that it would resume the search following a new proposal from Ocean Infinity, which would receive 70 million dollars if substantial wreckage is discovered. The search began in March this year but was paused after several weeks due to poor weather.

The new operation beginning on 30 December will follow the same terms agreed in 2024. It will cover a 15,000 sq km (5,790 sq miles) area of the southern Indian Ocean, although the precise coordinates have not been disclosed.

Ocean Infinity has confirmed it will recommence seabed operations for 55 days, conducted intermittently. Malaysia’s transport ministry said the renewed search would focus on “a targeted area assessed to have the highest probability of locating the aircraft.”

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