Major Update in Search for Missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370

Jack Phillips
5/29/2018
Updated:
9/28/2018

A privately funded search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which disappeared in 2014 with 239 people on board, has resulted in no new findings.

The Texas-based Ocean Infinity company used a deep-sea vessel to search an area of the southern Indian Ocean, presumably where MH370 disappeared.

The plane disappeared on March 8, 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

“Part of our motivation for renewing the search was to try to provide some answers to those affected,” Oliver Plunkett, the company’s CEO, said in a statement. “It is therefore with a heavy heart that we end our current search without having achieved that aim.”

The Malaysian government ended its search for the plane in 2017.

“We are most grateful to the Government of Malaysia for entertaining our offer and affording us the opportunity to recommence the search,” Plunkett said. “The commitment that the new government in Malaysia has made to prioritizing finding MH370 was very good to hear.”

Plunkett said on Tuesday, May 29, that the team had searched more than 112,000 square kilometers (43,243 square miles) for three months.

The government of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said last week that U.S. seabed exploration firm Ocean Infinity, which had scoured the southern Indian Ocean for the aircraft since January, would end its hunt on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

The previous administration of Najib Razak, who was defeated in a stunning election upset on May 9, had promised up to $70 million to the Texas-based firm if it found the plane within 90 days.

Last year, Australian authorities said the MH370 captain had flown a route on his home simulator six weeks before the disappearance that was “initially similar” to the course actually taken by the aircraft.

Peter Foley, who led the Australian Transport Safety Bureau’s search efforts, told an Australian Senate hearing “control inputs” had been made to fly the airliner off course, but he could not say if one of the pilots had done so.

Malaysian investigators said in 2015 they had found nothing suspicious in the financial, medical or personal histories of the pilots or crew.

Reuters contributed to this report.
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Jack Phillips is a breaking news reporter with 15 years experience who started as a local New York City reporter. Having joined The Epoch Times' news team in 2009, Jack was born and raised near Modesto in California's Central Valley. Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/jackphillips5
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