Timeline of the search for MH370 that disappeared 10 years ago
Families of passengers who were on board the missing MH370 flight are still looking for answers and here is a timeline from the disappearance to the search so far.
It is now 10 years since the Malaysia Airlines plane did the seemingly impossible by vanishing during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. It led to major searches and speculation over what may have happened including wild conspiracy theories.
During the first 40 minutes of the fateful journey, all appeared normal. But just seconds after crossing over into Vietnamese airspace, MH370 suddenly disappeared from the radar and it was impossible to make contact.
Searches for the plane - which was being flown by senior pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah, and first officer, Fariq Hamid - have spanned from the Indian Ocean, off Australia’s west coast to central Asia. But while there has been some wreckage found of the Boeing 777, there is no trace of the 227 passengers, plus 12 crew members on board.
Relatives of passengers on board missing MH370 outside the Malaysian embassy in Beijing on March 8 (AFP via Getty Images)And as Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim says he is willing to reopen an investigation if there is strong new evidence, here is the timeline of the disappearance and search so far.
MH370 theory claims new 'three-part riddle' could solve missing plane mystery
Saturday, March 8
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 Flight departs at 12:41am (1441 GMT Friday), and is due to land in Beijing at 6:30am (2230 GMT) the same day. On board the Boeing 777-200ER are 227 passengers and 12 crew.
Airline loses contact with plane between 1-2 hours after takeoff. No distress signal and weather is clear at the time.
Missing plane last has contact with air traffic controllers 120 nautical miles off the east coast of the Malaysian town of Kota Bharu.
Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam says plane failed to check in as scheduled at 17:21 GMT while flying over sea between Malaysia and Ho Chi Minh City.
Flight tracking website flightaware.com shows plane flew northeast over Malaysia after take off and climbed to altitude of 35,000 feet. The flight vanished from the website's tracking records a minute later while still climbing.
Malaysia search ships see no sign of wreckage in the area where flights last made contact. Vietnam says giant oil slick and column of smoke seen in its waters.
Two men from Austria and Italy, listed among the passengers on a missing Malaysia Airlines flight, are not in fact on board. They say their passports were stolen.
Sunday, March 9
Malaysia Airlines says it fears worst and is working with a company that specialises in disaster recovery.
Radar indicates flight may have turned back from its scheduled route to Beijing before disappearing.
Interpol says at least two passports recorded as lost or stolen in its database were used by passengers, and it is "examining additional suspect passports".
Doomed Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 may have 'crashed in different ocean'
Investigators narrow focus of inquiries on possibility plane disintegrated in mid-flight.
Monday, March 10
The United States review of American spy satellite imagery shows no signs of mid-air explosion.
As dozens of ships and aircraft from seven countries scour the seas around Malaysia and south of Vietnam, questions mount over whether a bomb or hijacking could have brought down the Boeing airliner.
Hijacking could not be ruled out, said the head of Malaysia's Civil Aviation Authority, Azharuddin Abdul Rahmanthe, adding the missing jet was an "unprecedented aviation mystery".
Police carry debris from an unidentified aircraft found in La Reunion, on July 29, 2015 (AFP/Getty Images)Tuesday, March 11
Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble names the two men who boarded jet with stolen passports as Iranians, aged 18 and 29, who had entered Malaysia using their real passports. "The more information we get, the more we are inclined to conclude it is not a terrorist incident," Noble said.
Malaysian police chief said the younger man appeared to be an illegal immigrant. His mother was waiting for him in Frankfurt and had been in contact with authorities, he said.
Malaysian police say they are investigating whether any passengers or crew on the plane had personal or psychological problems that might shed light on the mystery, along with the possibility of a hijacking, sabotage or mechanical failure.
Malaysia's military believes missing jet turned and flew hundreds of kilometres to the west after it last made contact with civilian air traffic control off the country's east coast, a senior officer told Reuters. The jet made it into the Strait of Malacca, one of the world's busiest shipping channels, along Malaysia's west coast, said the officer.
A Colorado-based company has put "crowdsourcing" to work in search for a missing jet, enlisting Internet users to comb through satellite images of more than 1,200 square miles (3,200 square km) of open seas for any signs of wreckage.
Wednesday, March 12
The search for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet expands to an area stretching from China to India, as authorities struggle to answer what had happened to the aircraft that vanished almost five days ago with 239 people on board.
Its revealed that the finals words spoken by one of the pilots from the cockpit of the plane to ground control were "all right, good night". The comment came as the plane flew from Malaysian into Vietnamese air space.
Thursday March 13
A Chinese satellite picture appears to show the outline of wreckage floating in the South China Sea, but Vietnamese search teams failed to find any sign of the objects.
Aviation experts say they believe the missing airliner could have flown for an extra four hours, after it lost contact with traffic controllers. The new theory was based on data downloaded automatically from the jet's engines.
It was also revealed that satellites picked up faint electronic pulses from MH370 after it went missing.
China said that they would not stop searching for the missing aircraft so long as there is a "glimmer of hope".
Investigators began looking into suggestions that the plane may have been deliberately flown towards the Andaman Islands.
A map of the search area for the plane by Australian authorities (Getty Images)Saturday March 15
The investigation into the disappearance shifted towards foul play, amid suggestions the plane was deliberately flown hundreds of miles off course.
Malaysian authorities then gave a press conference where they confirmed that they believed "deliberate action" had caused the plane to veer off course, and that someone deliberately shut down its communication and tracking systems.
New satellite information suggests the plane was flown west into the Straits of Malacca, but could then have gone down either one of two huge north or south corridors, spanning large tracts of land and deep oceans.
Police searched the homes of pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah, and co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid.
Sunday March 16
Pilot Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah is picture wearing a T-shirt with a Democracy is Dead slogan, sparking fears he could have hijacked the plane as an anti-government protest.
The number of countries involved in the search increased from 14 to 25, as Malaysian authorities revealed all passengers, crew and ground staff associated with the flight were under investigation.
Investigators revealed a flight simulator had been found at Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah's home, and taken away for further analysis.
At a press conference, it was suggested that Flight MH370 could have been on the ground when it sent its final satellite signal, and that its transmission system was switched off after its final communication with ground control.
Monday March 24
In an emotional press conference, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak told the world that experts had established "beyond any doubt" that the 239 passenger and crew on board flight MH370 had perished in the Indian Ocean.
The train was tracked down to an area 1,200 miles from Perth by "unprecedented" analysis of satellite data by British company Inmarsat.
The announcement prompted emotional scenes from the passengers' grieving families, who launched a scathing attack on Malaysian authorities.
Sunday March 30
- The daughter of MH370 pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah says her father had been acting strangely in recent months. Aishah, 28, said he was "not the father I knew", and that he "seemed disturbed and lost - in a world of his own".
Monday March 31
Malaysian authorities released a transcript of the final conversation between MH370's cockpit and ground control. It revealed the final words spoken by the co-pilot were not "all right, good night" as previously reported, but "good night Malaysian three seven zero".
However, investigators said the rest of the transcript contained nothing that would have caused alarm.
April 24, 2014
- The rescue search becomes a recovery operation and an autonomous underwater vehicle is used to cover a 430-mile wide area.
June 26, 2014
- Australian authorities release a preliminary report, where they look at the possibility that the plane flew on autopilot following a catastrophic event, such as a lack of oxygen that left the crew incapacitated.
September 16, 2014
- It is announced that an underwater search will take part in a remote southern part of the Indian Ocean at the end of the month.
October 2014
- The new search involves sonar devices that are looking for the wreckage around 100 metres above the seabed.
January 28, 2015
- Malaysia officially calls the disappearance of the plane an accident and presumes that all on board were dead. It concluded the aircraft used up its fuel “over a defined area of the southern Indian Ocean”.
August 5, 2015
- Malaysia prime minister, Najib Razak said that part of a wing had washed up on the French island of Reunion in in the Indian Ocean - which is the first trace of the plane since it disappeared. But other countries did not back up Malaysia's claim.
August, 2015
- France starts another air and sea search around Reunion but it comes to an end after 10 days
March, 2016
- Two pieces of debris found in separate discoveries in Mozambique are “highly likely to have come from MH370” as they were consistent with panels from a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 aircraft, said Australian authorities.
September, 2016
- A large piece of debris found on the island of Pemba, off the coast of Tanzania in June, 2016, is confirmed to be from MH370.
October, 2016
- An aircraft wing found on Mauritius is found to have been part of the missing plane, say officials from Malaysia and Australia - but it did not help in finding the main wreckage.
January, 2017
- An underwater search for the missing MH370 ends with a joint statement made by Malaysia, China and Australia
October 3, 2017
- Investigators from Australia delivered their final report, saying it was a "great tragedy" for the families of the passengers on board that they were unable to bring closure.
January, 2018
- A new search is made for the plane by US exploration company Ocean Infinity with a “no find, no fee” arrangement with Malaysia.
July 2018
- An investigation report by Malaysian authorities concludes that the plane was manually turned around in the air and was not under the control of the autopilot and stated that "unlawful interference by a third party" could not be ruled out. It did though rule out conspiracy theories that either of the pilots had deliberately brought down the plane.
March 8, 2024
- Australia is offering Malaysia support for a new search on the 10th anniversary of the plane's disappearance. Its foreign minister Penny Wong and transport minister Catherine King also offered the government's "sincere sympathies" for the families of those who were onboard. It comes after Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said this week that he would be willing to start a fresh investigation this week if there is sufficient evidence to go on.
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