Ten years after the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, where is the research?

This Friday, March 8, 2014 marks ten years since the plane crash in which 239 went missing on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Franceinfo takes stock of the investigation.

Two letters, three numbers and one mystery that still remains. It has been just ten years since Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2014. Kuala Lumpur, he never reached his destination Beijing. On board: 239 passengers (including 12 crew members) of 14 different nationalities who were never met. Among them, four Frenchmen from the Seine-Maritime. Franceinfo takes stock of the investigation, while victims’ relatives continue to call for new research.

The first debris was found in Reunion in 2015

In the days after Malaysia Airlines’ Boeing 777 disappeared, millions of people began searching for it. Anonymous people from around the world scroll through the Tomnod collaborative platform examining the ocean surface through thousands of satellite images and millions of pages of internet users. The world is excited about Flight MH370. These enthusiasts even have a name: “MHists”.

In July 2015, a year after the plane disappeared, a fragment of the wing surfaced on a beach in Reunion. More than a month after the discovery, the Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed “yeah sure”

That the wreckage belonged to a Malaysia Airlines plane. Evaluations carried out in the laboratory of the General Directorate of Armaments (DGA TA) of the Ministry of Defense, near Toulouse, made it possible to identify it. “Three Numbers Inside a Flapper” which lead to the Spanish company subcontracting with Boeing and based in Seville.

Other debris was subsequently found in the region, some of which was identified as belonging to the missing aircraft. Each of these discoveries revives hope for victims’ loved ones. But black boxes, like the wreckage of a Boeing 777, cannot be found.

Research suspended in early 2017…

In total, more than 120,000 square kilometers have been combed in the southern Indian Ocean. Which makes this research the most comprehensive in the history of aviation. Australia, Malaysia and China are spending 130 million euros on this meticulous search of the seabed. Hundreds of planes and boats have been mobilized.

But in January 2017, all three countries therefore Most of the victims are Decide to suspend their research. a Judgment was given at that time “Totally Unfathomable” By Ghyslain Wattrelos, originally from Saint-Aubin-sur-Sy (Seine-Maritime), who lost his wife and two of his three children during the disaster. “It took them two years to find the aircraft that made the Rio-Paris flight. However, they knew, roughly, where the plane went down. Here, after two and a half years, we stopped the search, when we don’t know where the plane went down. So yes, we should continue the search.”He responded to Franceinfo at the time.

July 2, 2018, an official report of about 500 pages (in PDF) Finally closes the investigation, giving no definitive answers. Enough to fuel the theories and speculation surrounding one of the greatest mysteries in the history of civil aviation: pilot suicide, in-flight accident, missile launch, sabotaged aircraft, passenger compromise, depression, fire on board…

… but which may resume soon

The investigation into the disappearance of flight MH370, however, has not been fully concluded. Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Lok Siew Fook took advantage of the commemoration ceremony on Sunday March 3 to make an announcement: Research can finally resume. He said the government would launch a new effort to find the device with representatives from US marine robotics company Ocean Infinity. With this news, a wave of hope has returned to the affected families. For them, finding the cabin of MH370 after ten years would be a path of mourning.

Ocean Infinity, a Texas-based company, has already made efforts to locate the Boeing 777, but its previous searches of the seabed have proved unsuccessful. “We now feel in a position to resume the search for MH370 and have submitted a proposal to the Malaysian government, confirms its general manager Oliver Plunkett in a Malaysian newspaper column New Straits Times. Finding MH370 and responding to everything related to the loss of the aircraft has been constantly on our minds since we left the southern Indian Ocean in 2018.

According to the Malaysian authorities, the company provides its services on principle “No Cure No Fee”. Translation: “No consequences, no payment”. That is, Ocean Infinity will only be paid if she successfully completes her mission, and therefore finds the plane. She No details have yet been given on the timetable, nor have new research areas been envisaged.

An investigation is still ongoing in France

In France, the Paris prosecutor’s office is also continuing its investigation. l’The judicial information is still in progress under the control of the investigating magistrate, a judicial source confirmed to Franceinfo. Two months after the plane mysteriously disappeared, the Paris prosecutor’s office opened an investigation into “involuntary manslaughter” before widening it. For “hijacking of an aircraft aggravated by the death of one or more persons”.

Authors of an independent report published in early 2023 (in PDF), two French experts confirm that the research carried out in the Indian Ocean was not carried out in the right place. Engineer Jean-Luc Marchand, an aeronautics expert, and Patrick Bley, a retired Air France captain, believe that the puzzle “can be resolved quickly”

If a new research was initiated. According to him, a Boeing 777 could also crash “Will get it in a few days”.

Ghyslain Wattrelos is convinced that the truth is hidden. The guest of “Télématin” on Thursday, the father of the family François Hollande appealedPresident of the Republic at the time of his disappearance. “He never said anything about it. It’s clear he knows about it and doesn’t want to be involved.”