Mystery of missing MH370 deepens after update in underwater search

Investigators have released an update on the huge seabed search for MH370.

More than 7,500 square kilometres of ocean was surveyed in January for the missing Boeing 777 jet, which disappeared more than ten years ago.

All 239 passengers and crew are presumed dead after the Malaysian Airlines plane vanished from radar in March 2014.

Previous efforts to scour the seabed of the Indian Ocean, which reaches depths of 24,442 feet, had failed to locate the wreckage.

But hopes were raised after Malaysia’s transport ministry confirmed the search would resume again in targeted areas at the start of this year.

Marine robotics firm Ocean Infinity conducted the lates huge underwater search on a ‘no find, no fee’ basis.

In a major update to families today, the Malaysian Government confirmed that the huge operation took place over 28 days from December 31, 2025 and concluded on January 28, 2026.

However the extensive search in the southern Indian Ocean found no trace of the jet.

Malaysia’s Air Accident Investigation Bureau added that severe weather and sea conditions had ‘periodically’ disrupted attempts to locate the plane’s wreckage.

An additional search also took place in March of last year, before Ocean Infinity were formally signed on.

It is unclear if or when the ocean search will resume, with investigators most likely to wait until next summer in the southern hemisphere for optimum conditions.

Under the terms of the contract, Ocean Infinity will receive £52million if it locates the wreckage.

The AAIB said in a statement: ‘The search activities undertaken have
not yielded any findings that confirm the location of the aircraft
wreckage.

‘The Government remains committed to keeping the families informed and will continue to provide updates as appropriate.’

The disappearance of flight 370 remains one of greatest mysteries in aviation history.

Several possible explanations have been offered, with officials considering a pilot suicide to be the most likely causes of the crash.

The flight was en route for Beijing from Kuala Lumpur when it vanished over the Gulf of Thailand.

However a series of handshakes sent by the aircraft indicating it had been in the air for nearly six hours after its initial disappearance fuelled speculation it had been deliberately flown off course.

The lack of mayday call also suggested that the plane had not experienced a technical error or a hijacking.

While several parts of the doomed jet washed up on shores, including sections of the wings, the black boxes were never recovered.

The underwater search for the plane is thought to be one of the most expensive on record, with the 2014-2017 surveys having cost £120 million alone.

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