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New Search for Malaysia Airlines MH370 Faces Major Delay
The renewed search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has encountered a significant setback, as Malaysia’s transport minister announced a suspension of operations until later in the year. This development casts uncertainty over the ongoing quest to locate the Boeing 777 and resolve one of aviation’s biggest mysteries.
Background of the MH370 Disappearance
Flight MH370, carrying 239 individuals, vanished from radar on March 8, 2014, during its scheduled route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Despite an unprecedented international effort, the aircraft’s location remains undetermined.
Extensive Previous Search Operations
An extensive search, recognized as the largest in aviation history, was initially launched. This Australia-led operation spanned 120,000 square kilometers (46,300 square miles) of the Indian Ocean over three years. However, this yielded minimal results, recovering only a few pieces of debris and failing to locate the main wreckage of the Malaysia Airlines plane.
Subsequently, Ocean Infinity, a maritime exploration firm with bases in Southampton and the United States, conducted an unsuccessful search in 2018. Earlier this year, hopes were rekindled when they commenced a new search operation.
Current Search Interruption
Malaysia’s transport minister, Anthony Loke, informed reporters of the operational halt, stating that Ocean Infinity has ‘stopped the operation for the time being.’ He indicated that ‘they will resume the search at the end of this year,’ attributing the delay to seasonal factors.
This announcement comes shortly after Malaysian authorities confirmed the recommencement of the search, following previous unsuccessful attempts across vast sections of the Indian Ocean.
Ocean Infinity’s Renewed Efforts and Technology
When the renewed search began in February, Minister Loke conveyed that Ocean Infinity teams had meticulously ‘gathered all the data’ and expressed confidence in the ‘current search area’s heightened credibility.’
Ocean Infinity proceeded with deep-water searches without a finalized agreement with the Malaysian government, reportedly initiating the operation independently to capitalize on a favorable weather window before the onset of the southern hemisphere winter season.
Marine tracking data in February indicated the arrival of Ocean Infinity’s deep-water support vessel, Armada 7806, at a designated search zone approximately 1,200 miles off the coast of Perth, Australia.
Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) were promptly deployed from the vessel to commence seabed scans, as reported by The Telegraph. These AUVs, along with other remotely operated vehicles capable of wreckage recovery, are controlled via satellite link from Ocean Infinity’s command center in Southampton.
Search Focus Areas and Past Discoveries
The Armada 7806 had purportedly planned to investigate three to four designated ‘hotspots’ identified by researchers as potential crash sites for the lost Boeing 777.
Despite the previous large-scale search in 2014, which scoured 120,000 square kilometers of the Indian Ocean, virtually no substantial trace of the aircraft was found, with only limited debris recovered.
Despite the extensive nature of the initial disaster response and subsequent search initiatives, the main wreckage of flight MH370 remains undiscovered, prolonging one of the most enduring mysteries in aviation history.