New Findings Of Flight MH370: Had Passed Through Indonesia And Crashed In The Southern Indian Ocean

MH370 theoretical search map (Source: Commons Wikimedia)

JAKARA - The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines 370 (MH370) on March 8, 2014 on a Kuala Lumpur-Beijing flight still leaves many mysteries. The loss of a Boeing 777 with 227 passengers and 12 crew on board prompted a search that stretched from the Indian Ocean west of Australia to Central Asia. After six years gone, experts are now starting to see a bright spot.

A group of aviation experts believe they have found the crash site of flight MH370. An expert named Victor Ianello and his team based in the United States (US) announced via the aviation news site, Air Live.

Iannello is one of four experts who have worked on the crash site study. The wreck of MH370 was never found, with only a few fragments stranded on the coast of an island in the western Indian Ocean.

Iannello believes the Boeing 777 flew 4,340 kilometers over Indonesia, before crashing into the South Indian Ocean near coordinates S34.2342 and E93.7875, about 2,070 km off the coast of Perth, Australia.

Victor Iannello, who assisted Australian officials during the previous search said "there is a better possibility than the other." Ianello explained that the missing MH370 was within a hundred nautical miles of the last estimated point.

Parts of the Boeing 777-200ER have washed ashore on the western Indian Ocean in the months and years after disappearing. No official explanation has been given, and the accident is one of the biggest aviation mysteries in the world.

One of the leading theories is the hijacking and mass killings committed by pilots. In addition, another aviation expert, Byron Bailey said investigators had been looking in the wrong place.

Bailey also claimed that the search was within 30 kilometers from where he estimated the wreckage was. Bailey also believes the pilot tried to get the plane as far south as possible so that only small debris could be found.

The last operation to find the plane ended in May 2018, when US-based exploration company Ocean Infinity failed to locate the plane. They quit after searching for three months.

In 2014, the search for MH370 involved 14 countries, 43 ships and 58 aircraft. Among the participating countries are Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, China, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and Australia.

The Wall Street Journal noted that Malaysia also requested radar information and sought assets from the 26 countries involved. "This has never happened before," said William Marks, a spokesman for the US Navy's 7th Fleet, which is leading operations to western Malaysia.