Malaysia Halts Latest Search for Missing Flight MH370 Due to Bad Weather
Malaysia has suspended the latest search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, with Transport Minister Anthony Loke sharing the news this week. This decision comes more than ten years after the plane disappeared, leaving behind one of the biggest mysteries in aviation history, still unsolved till this day.
Operations have been put on hold for the time being, but we plan to resume by the end of the year.
Anthony Loke, Malaysian Transport Minister
Loke mentioned that the suspension is because of unfavorable conditions, saying, "currently, it’s just not the right season."
The Boeing 777, which had 239 people on board, vanished on March 8th 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Despite the largest search operation in aviation history, covering an area of 120,000 square kilometers (46,300 square miles) in the southern Indian Ocean from 2014 to 2017, only a few pieces of debris were discovered.
In 2018, the US-British company "Ocean Infinity" attempted another search, but it also came up empty. Earlier this year, Malaysia gave the green light for a renewed search effort by the company, this time under a “no find, no fee” agreement, focusing on a 15,000 square kilometer area. “Whether [the wreckage] will be found depends on the search. No one can predict it,” Loke mentioned.
The suspension follows a wave of renewed hope after Malaysia revealed plans to restart searches in December 2023. Investigators have been looking into the mystery of the disappearance for years, and all theories are on the table, including the possibility of pilot involvement. The families of the victims, many of whom are Chinese, continue to seek answers. On the 11th anniversary of the disappearance last month, relatives gathered outside government offices in Beijing, holding signs that said, “When will the torment end?” and chanting, “We want our loved ones back!”