A U.S. company that has long searched for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 that disappeared in March 2014 has revealed they have new evidence about where the plane may be.
As a result of this new evidence, the company has submitted a proposal to the Malaysian government to start up a new search for the missing plane. If this proposal is accepted, the company will work to potentially find flight MH370.
The Story of the Missing Flight MH370
In March 2014, flight MH370 disappeared while flying over the South China Sea. Since then, the missing flight has kept many people wondering what, exactly, happened to cause the flight to disappear.
According to official data, the flight completely vanished from air traffic control radars less than an hour after it took off from Kuala Lumpur’s international airport.
The Flight’s Route
Even more interesting, once an investigation of the missing flight was underway, analysts realized that the flight did not go on its intended route. Instead, it completely went in the opposite direction.
The initial route of the plane had a liftoff at Kuala Lumpur and a landing at Beijing, China. The route was a normal one that flight crews had done thousands of times in the past few decades.
MH370’s New Route
The last time air traffic controllers saw the flight, it was flying over the northern part of the Strait of Malacca. This would become the flight’s last officially known position.
According to researchers, flight MH370 eventually completely strayed from its planned route. The plane headed west over Southeast Asia, then went southward over the Indian Ocean.
The Flight’s Disappearance Shocked the World
News regarding MH370’s disappearance shocked much of the world, especially because no official could explain what happened. 239 people were on board the flight, and their families could not get any answers about why the flight dropped off of radar and went missing.
Many governments and private companies from around the world headed to where they thought the plane might have crashed into the ocean. However, it was never found.
Ocean Infinity’s Search
Ocean Infinity, a Texas-based company, was one of the private companies that entered the search for the missing flight. In 2018, the company searched through the southern Indian Ocean for the plane.
However, now Ocean Infinity thinks they may have found some new evidence — from their old searches — that could point them in the direction of flight MH370.
Ocean Infinity Wants to Conduct a New Search
According to Ocean Infinity’s chief executive officer Oliver Plunkett, they feel they can truly find the plane. As a result, they want to return to the Indian Ocean to search for it.
“We now feel in a position to be able to return to the search for MH370, and have submitted a proposal to the Malaysian government,” Plunkett said.
A New Proposal
According to the U.S. company, they have submitted a proposal to the Malaysian government after reviewing this new evidence.
This submitted proposal is a “no-cure, no-fee” search. This means that the client will pay for the services if the company finds what they’re looking for. Thus far, the Malaysian government has not yet responded officially to this proposal, though they remain open to beginning the search again.
Ocean Infinity’s New Technology
Ocean Infinity’s Plunkett went into detail about some new technologies they have worked on in the past few years. As a decade has passed since the flight first went missing, technological advancements could help find what other companies missed 10 years ago.
“Since then, we have focused on driving the transformation of operations at sea; innovating with technology and robotics to further advance our ocean search capabilities,” Plunkett explained.
Malaysian Officials Are Open to a New Search
Though the Malaysian government hasn’t officially accepted Ocean Infinity’s proposal yet, some public officials have already come out in support of reopening the search for flight MH370.
“I am very, very confident that the government of Malaysia and cabinet will approve such a proposal,” Anthony Loke, Malaysia’s transport minister, said.
Ocean Infinity Will Narrow Their New Search
After searching the ocean in 2018, Ocean Infinity has seemingly learned something new about what to search for this time around. According to Plunkett, they’ve reanalyzed some data to narrow their search area.
“We’ve been working with many experts, some outside of Ocean Infinity, to continue analyzing the data in the hopes of narrowing the search area down to one in which success becomes potentially achievable,” he said.
Families May Get Some Closure
The families of the 239 people on flight MH370 have had 10 years without any type of closure. If Ocean Infinity can truly find the plane, this may finally help many get much-needed answers.
“Finding MH370 and bringing some resolution for all connected with the loss of the aircraft has been a constant in our minds since we left the southern Indian Ocean in 2018,” Plunkett said.
