Two years of continuous scouring for the Malaysian Airlines flight 370 is yet to show tangible results.The tragic incident that shocked the world by its mysterious disappearance is still in news for its extensive search that is still ongoing.
The multinational seaarch team have left no stone unturned to comb more than 80,000 sq. km. of the seabed, which makes up two-thirds of the mission. The latest high-tech detection devices have failed to unearth even the slightest lead for the elusive wreckage.
Due to lack of further developments or clues, the bureau has decided the entire 1,20,000 sq. km-search is to be concluded by the middle of this year, according to CNN statistics.
The disappearance of the Malaysian carrier took place in March 2014 when the Kuala Lumpur-Beijing aircraft flew out of the radar with 239 people on board and vanished literally into thin air. The control room last tracked its route over the Strait of Malacca.
This tragic event was followed by heavy-duty scouring of vast expanses of the seabed, but without much luck. The only evidence of the supposed wreck has been a wing component that got washed up on the Reunion Island. This piece of the aircraft was traced back to a Spanish manufacturing company which confirmed that the series of numbers found in the flaperon matched that of the jetliner.
The latest analysis of the marathon search happened in December with the help of flight route and satellite communications which narrowed down the focus. The results pointed towards the southern part of the search zone as being the most likely zone of the wreck. Ships have been patrolling the area to find any signs of the ill-fated Boeing.
Imagine the disappointment when the scouring unearthed two ancient shipwrecks instead. The most recent discovery was a ship made of iron or steel that is said to be built somewhere in the early 1800's. A second boat, Havila Harmony, was sent to the scene to take a snapshot of the wreckage using their sonar.
Today news revealed the statement made by Joint Agency Coordination Centre - "On December 19, 2015, an anomalous sonar contact was identified in the course of the underwater search, with analysis suggesting the object was likely to be man-made, probably a shipwreck."
Now, after two years of active hunt, the governments of Australia, China and Malaysia have jointly decided that they need "edible new information that leads to the identification of a specific location of the aircraft" before giving the green signal to expand the search further. This statement has been issued by the bureau, according to information on Bloomberg.
So now, unless the search team comes up with some path-breaking leads, the decision stands at completing the mission by June 2016. Following this, all government aids will be withdrawn and the final report needs to be submitted, signalling the closure of the much talked-about curious case of the missing plane.
Join the Conversation