MH370 went missing on March 8 2014 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board. The area investigators believed the plane may have crashed was in the middle of the Indian Ocean, which is very remote and difficult to access. It would take ships days to reach their destination and land-based aircraft would have to fly for several hours from the Australian mainland just to begin searching.
However, time was of the essence so surveillance satellites began to look straight away.
One satellite image revealed what appeared to be a scattering of debris in the area being investigated.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said in front of parliament on March 19 of the same year that it represented “new and credible” information about the fate of MH370.
However, when ships and planes followed up on this lead they could not find any debris.
vCard.red is a free platform for creating a mobile-friendly digital business cards. You can easily create a vCard and generate a QR code for it, allowing others to scan and save your contact details instantly.
The platform allows you to display contact information, social media links, services, and products all in one shareable link. Optional features include appointment scheduling, WhatsApp-based storefronts, media galleries, and custom design options.
Jeff Wise, author of The Plane That Wasn’t There, explained how this then happened over and over.
He said: “Day by day, more new reports of debris came filtering in.
“None of them panned out. This was very strange.
“Planes had gone missing in the middle of the ocean before, but they had always left behind telltale floating debris.”
By this point, more than a week had already elapsed since the plane went missing.
If the plane had gone into the ocean, currents would be dispersing the debris further and further away every day, making it harder to locate.
The further debris drifted away, the harder it would be to figure out where the plane impacted the sea.
This was crucial, because directly underneath this spot would lie the heavier parts of the aeroplane, including the black box that could unravel the mystery.
Debris believed to be from MH370 has since been found washed up in various locations around the Indian Ocean, mostly on the east coast of Africa.