Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, a Boeing 777 with 239 people aboard, disappeared on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in the early hours of 8 March 2014 Malaysian time. Satellite data led searchers to the southern Indian Ocean, where Australian-led and private seabed searches have not found the main wreckage, though debris has washed ashore around the Indian Ocean. Malaysia's 2018 safety investigation report could not determine why the aircraft diverted.
The wreckage has not been found. Malaysia has extended its no find, no fee agreement with Ocean Infinity to 30 June 2027, with about 7,429 square kilometres of the new search area left to cover and vessels expected back between November 2026 and April 2027.
Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, a Boeing 777 with 239 people aboard (12 crew and 227 passengers), departed Kuala Lumpur at 16:42 UTC, according to the ATSB. That was 00:42 on 8 March in Malaysia. The ATSB said 153 of the passengers were Chinese and 38 were Malaysian.
The aircraft's last ACARS data report was received at 17:07:29 UTC, the ATSB said.
At 17:19:30 UTC the pilot in command acknowledged the instruction to contact Ho Chi Minh air traffic control, the last voice transmission from the aircraft, according to the ATSB.
The ATSB said the aircraft's Mode S transponder was not detected on Malaysian radar after 17:20:36 UTC, and Vietnamese radar lost the matching target after 17:20:33. The last secondary radar position was recorded at 17:21:13.
Primary radar continued to detect the aircraft after the transponder signal was lost. The last primary radar return was at 18:22:12 UTC, according to the ATSB.
Malaysia's 2018 safety investigation report said the distress phase should have been declared by 2:27 a.m. Malaysian time but was only issued at 6:32 a.m. (22:32 UTC), nearly four hours later, the Malay Mail reported. The investigation team's media briefing concluded that air traffic controllers did not initiate the emergency phases as required.
Hourly satellite handshakes between the aircraft and the Inmarsat Indian Ocean Region I-3 satellite, logged at a ground station in Perth, continued for hours after radar contact ended. The ATSB lists the sixth handshake at 00:10:58 UTC.
At 00:19:29 UTC the aircraft sent an unscheduled log-on request to the satellite. The ATSB said this was probably sent after fuel exhaustion and that the aircraft probably hit the ocean close to that time, along a line of possible positions it calls the 7th arc. A handshake attempt at 01:15:56 UTC went unanswered.
A surface search began on 8 March and continued to 28 April 2014, covering several million square kilometres, according to the ATSB. It said items recovered in the surface search were considered unlikely to be associated with MH370.
At Malaysia's request, Australia assumed responsibility for coordinating search operations in the southern part of the Indian Ocean on 17 March 2014, the ATSB said.
By 24 March 2014 further analysis of the satellite communications data established that it was consistent only with flight paths along a southern corridor ending in the southern Indian Ocean, according to the ATSB.
The ATSB was tasked from May 2014 to lead an underwater search, initially over 60,000 square kilometres, according to its final report.
Underwater search operations began in October 2014, the ATSB said. Contractor Fugro Survey provided vessels and equipment, and a Chinese vessel took part in the seabed mapping survey.
A flaperon, a wing part about two metres long, was found washed up on a beach near Saint-Andre on the French island of Reunion, AFP reported. Prime Minister Najib Razak announced in early August that it came from MH370.
Paris prosecutors said investigators matched a number found on the part to the serial number of an MH370 flaperon, according to AFP and the Associated Press.
Ministers from Malaysia, Australia and China agreed that without credible new evidence the search would be suspended, not ended, once the 120,000 square kilometre area was completed, the ATSB said. The ATSB said debris found in 2015 and 2016 on Indian Ocean islands and the east African coast showed the aircraft was not configured for a ditching.
The ATSB published its First Principles Review of the search on 20 December 2016. Its final report said later analysis, together with the review, identified an area of less than 25,000 square kilometres north of the searched zone with the highest likelihood of containing the aircraft.
The Australian-led underwater search was suspended on 17 January 2017 after more than 120,000 square kilometres of seafloor had been searched without finding the aircraft, the ATSB said.
The ATSB's final report said the reasons for the loss could not be established with certainty until the aircraft was found. It estimated the actual cost of the underwater search to 30 June 2017 at 198 million Australian dollars.
A privately run seabed search by Ocean Infinity ended in 2018 without finding the aircraft, Reuters and the Associated Press reported.
Malaysia's MH370 safety investigation team released its report, which Bloomberg and the Malay Mail reported ran to 449 pages. The team's media briefing said flight simulator trials established that the turn back was made under manual control and that the possibility of intervention by a third party could not be excluded. Bloomberg reported that the report stopped short of apportioning specific blame.
Transport Minister Anthony Loke said Malaysia had agreed to resume the search with Ocean Infinity over a new 15,000 square kilometre area under a no find, no fee principle, with 70 million dollars payable only if substantive wreckage is found, Reuters reported.
Loke announced that Malaysia had agreed the terms of the new search, Reuters reported, adding that a ship had been deployed to the area before the deal was signed. The Associated Press reported that the contract was signed in March.
Associated Press, via ABC7 NewsOcean Infinity's first phase of the renewed search ran from 25 to 28 March 2025, according to the Associated Press.
Associated Press, via PBS NewsHourThe renewed search was halted in April 2025 after a few weeks because of poor weather, Reuters and the Associated Press reported.
Malaysia's transport ministry said Ocean Infinity would resume seabed operations on 30 December for a total of 55 days, carried out intermittently, in the area with the highest probability of locating the aircraft, Reuters and the Associated Press reported.
The second phase of the renewed search ran from 31 December 2025 to 23 January 2026, according to the Associated Press, which said weather repeatedly disrupted operations.
Associated Press, via PBS NewsHourOcean Infinity's vessel left the search area on 23 January 2026, the company said. The Associated Press reported that the two phases covered about 7,571 square kilometres over 28 days without finding the aircraft.
On the 12th anniversary of the disappearance, Malaysia's Air Accident Investigation Bureau said the search had not yielded findings confirming the location of the wreckage, the Associated Press reported. Ocean Infinity said that since 2018 it had mapped more than 140,000 square kilometres of seafloor.
Malaysia's cabinet approved extending the Ocean Infinity agreement from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027 on unchanged no find, no fee terms, Loke announced on 29 June. He said 7,428.54 square kilometres of the search area remained and that the company's vessels were expected back between November 2026 and April 2027.
Lion Air flight 610 crashed off Indonesia in October 2018 and Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 crashed near Addis Ababa in March 2019, killing all 346 people aboard the two ...
On June 12, 2025, Air India flight 171, a Boeing 787-8 bound for London Gatwick, crashed into buildings in Ahmedabad shortly after takeoff, killing 241 of the 242 people ...
On January 5, 2024, the left mid exit door plug separated from an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-9 climbing out of Portland, Oregon, and the airplane returned and landed safe...
Prosecutors charged that Najib abused his position and committed criminal breach of trust and money laundering over RM42 million of SRC International funds paid into his ...
Malay Mail · malaymail.com
Associated Press, via ABC News · abcnews.com Associated Press, via ABC7 News · abc7news.com Associated Press, via PBS NewsHour · pbs.org Malay Mail · malaymail.com
Associated Press, via The Washington Times · m.washingtontimes.com Malay Mail · malaymail.comLast updated 1 November 2026. Spotted an error? See corrections. Every event links to the record it comes from. Allegations are attributed to whoever made them.