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Malaysia says search for missing flight MH370 must go on

March 3, 2024

The disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 is one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries. As relatives of passengers marked 10 years since the plane vanished, Malaysia said it was time for a new search.

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A woman writes a message during an event held by relatives of the passengers and supporters to mark the 10th year since the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370
Relatives of passengers on a Malaysia Airlines flight that mysteriously vanished 10 years ago marked the event in Kuala LumpurImage: Arif Kartono/AFP

Malaysia's transport minister, Anthony Loke, said Sunday he was trying to arrange a new search for the lost Malaysian Airlines flight MH370.

"The government is steadfast in our resolve to locate MH370," Loke told a remembrance event to mark the 10th anniversary of the disappearance of the jet. 

"We really hope the search can find the plane and provide truth to the next-of-kin."

The Boeing 777 aircraft was en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur, carrying 239 people, when it vanished from radar on March 8, 2014.

Despite the largest search in aviation history, the plane has never been found.

Relatives of MH370 passengers still hope for answers

Possible new search welcomed by relatives 

Family members of passengers from Malaysia, Australia, China and India cheered Loke's announcement at a remembrance event held at a mall in a Kuala Lumpur suburb.

The minister said the Texas-based seabed exploration firm Ocean Infinity had proposed another "no find, no fee" basis to scour the ocean floor, expanding from the site where it first searched in 2018.

"We are now awaiting for them to provide suitable dates and I hope to meet them soon," he said. 

"I'm on top of the world," said Jacquita Gomes, whose flight attendant husband was on the plane. "We have been on a roller coaster for the last 10 years ... If it is not found, I hope that it will continue with another search," she said.

Mystery over flight MH370 remains

The disappearance of flight MH370 remains a mystery, with numerous theories attempting to explain its fate.

A multinational underwater search in the Indian Ocean, led by Malaysia, China, and Australia ended in early 2017 without success. 

The following year, Ocean Infinity launched a private search. However, that also ended after several months of combing the seabed proved fruitless.

In 2020, former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott claimed that Malaysian authorities believed that the pilot downed the plane in a murder-suicide plot.

Wreckage believed to be from Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is displayed during an event held by relatives of the passengers and supporters to mark the 10th year since the place went missing
Flight MH370 vanished en route to Beijing from the Malaysian capital on March 8, 2014Image: Arif Kartono/AFP

In response to Abbott's comments, Najib Razak — who was serving as Malaysia's prime minister at the time of the incident — confirmed that investigators had never ruled out the possibility of a murder-suicide scenario.

Najib had told the online news portal Free Malaysia Today that officials had considered such a scenario during their probe but had decided not to make their views public.

"It would have been deemed unfair and legally irresponsible since the black boxes and cockpit voice recorders had not been found and, hence, there was no conclusive proof whether the pilot was solely or jointly responsible," the outlet had quoted Najib as saying.

The theory that the plane's pilot, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, went rogue and downed the plane has been vehemently rejected by his family and friends.

lo,dvv/msh (AFP, AP, EFE)