MH370: 12 years on, next of kin pledge to continue the search and the fight for answers

By Annette Gartland on March 8, 2026

This article has been updated to include a statement from Ocean Infinity’s CEO, Oliver Plunkett.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 went missing 12 years ago today (March 8). The plane had 227 passengers and 12 crew on board and was en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. As on every anniversary since the plane disappeared, there remain more questions than answers.

While pieces of debris have been recovered that investigators confirm are from MH370, neither the main wreckage of the plane nor its voice and data recorders have been located.

The maritime exploration company Ocean Infinity confirmed on March 8 that its Armada 86 05 vessel had departed the MH370 search area in the southern Indian Ocean on January 23.

Ocean Infinity’s CEO, Oliver Plunkett, said the company remained committed to the search for the plane.

“It was important for us to take advantage of every piece of information and data available and go back, but despite all that effort, we haven’t been able to find it,” he said.

“Although this phase of the search has concluded, our commitment has not. We’re continuing to work with the Malaysian government in the hope of being able to return when circumstances allow.

“ If nothing else, we can say with confidence that it isn’t where we looked. That matters – it brings clarity, and it will help those continuing to study the evidence refine their thinking and shape future search strategies.”

Photo courtesy of Ocean Infinity, showing one of the company’s Armada vessels in the Indian Ocean.

The family support group Voice370 said that any request by Ocean Infinity to extend its search contract with the Malaysian government should be granted without hesitation.

“A simple addendum extending the contract period without altering the core terms of the agreement would allow the search to continue without delay,’ Voice370 said.

“If the present search is unsuccessful, we would also urge Malaysia to kindly consider extending similar ‘no find, no fee’ opportunities to other capable deep sea exploration companies under the same framework.”

Voice370 added: “We will continue the search for MH370, and we will continue the fight for answers. We will never Give Up!!”.

Ocean Infinity conducted a brief search for MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean in March last year, but suspended that search on March 28, citing seasonal weather changes and unavoidable prior commercial commitments.

It resumed its search at the end of 2025, but concluded this second phase of the operation on January 23 this year.

Malaysia’s transport ministry told the next of kin today: “As at the date of this update, the search activities undertaken have not yielded any findings that confirm the location of the aircraft wreckage.”

Voice370 said: “Although the contract runs until June 2026, it appears unlikely OI will be able to return to complete the remaining areas due to the approaching winter months and deteriorating sea conditions.”

In the southern Indian Ocean, the ‘search season’ is limited by the fact that the weather begins to become rough in May and only starts to improve in November.

The transport ministry’s Air Accident Investigation Bureau said today that Ocean Infinity’s search operations had been “periodically disrupted by weather and sea conditions”.

Ocean Infinity said that, since first embarking on its search for MH370 in 2018, it had spent 151 days at sea and mapped more than 140,000 square kilometres of seafloor.

Oliver Plunkett said: “The scale of the challenge both geographically and technologically is almost impossible to comprehend.

“We’re proud to have brought our expertise and the most advanced technology we’ve ever deployed. The combination of scientific rigour, automation techniques, robotics, and greater organisational experience meant this search was carried out with a level of precision and speed unimaginable in 2018.

“I hope those around the world for whom this mattered know that, even though we don’t have the outcome we wanted, a large number of people did the very best they could.”

He added: “Since 2018, we’ve spent more than 150 days at sea and covered over 140,000 square kilometres of seafloor. We’re deeply grateful for the support of the families, the Malaysian government, the Australian government, and the many companies and individuals who dedicated time and effort because they cared and wanted to help.”

The Malaysian government signed a ‘no find, no fee’ agreement with Ocean Infinity on March 25, 2025.

Announcing on December 3 last year that the company would resume the search for MH370, the transport ministry said: “Ocean Infinity has confirmed with the government of Malaysia that it will recommence seabed search operations for a total of 55 days, to be conducted intermittently”.

The ministry said the search would be carried out in a targeted area “assessed to have the highest probability of locating the aircraft, in accordance with the service agreement entered between the government of Malaysia and Ocean Infinity …”.

Voice370 said today: “This Sunday marks twelve long years since Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, together with her 239 passengers and crew, vanished from our skies.

“In January 2025, Voice370 welcomed the decision by the government of Malaysia to enter into a ‘no find, no fee’ agreement with Ocean Infinity to undertake a renewed search in the southern Indian Ocean.

“We were grateful to the Malaysian government for accepting this offer, and to Ocean Infinity for its willingness to undertake such an arduous mission without certainty of reward.”

Voice370 said the families remained grateful to all those “who have contributed their expertise, time and resources in the effort to solve this mystery”.

The group added: “We deeply appreciate the outreach made to the families and to the world at large, and we will always be indebted to those who have worked tirelessly in the search.

“Above all, we remember the 239 passengers and crew of MH370, whose absence continues to be felt every single day by the families and loved ones they left behind.

“We also pay special tribute to Jacquita Gonzales, a cherished and tireless member of Voice370, whom we lost last April. Her voice, her determination and her unwavering commitment to the search will never be forgotten.”

Government update

Malaysia’s transport ministry said today that Ocean Infinity’s search operations under the Malaysian government’s agreement with the company were conducted in two phases: the first from March 25 to 28 and the second from December 31, 2025, to January 23, 2026.

“In total, 28 operational search days were undertaken across both phases following the signing of the agreement, resulting in the survey of approximately 7,571 square kilometres of seabed within the defined search area,” the ministry’s Air Accident Investigation Bureau said.

“Ocean Infinity has indicated that additional survey activities were undertaken within the broader search area before the formal signing of the agreement in March 2025, as part of efforts supporting the search operation.”

Voice370 said today that Ocean Infinity surveyed 7,500 square kilometres prior to the formal signing of its agreement with the Malaysian government.

The transport ministry added today: “The government remains committed to keeping the families informed and will continue to provide updates as appropriate.”

Armada vessels

The brief search in March last year was conducted using Ocean Infinity’s robotic vessel Armada 78 06. Armada 86 05, which is a bigger vessel, took over for the second phase of the mission.

Armada 78 06 was deployed in the southern Indian Ocean in April last year, but only officially began its search for MH370 on March 25 after its ‘no find, no fee’ agreement with the Malaysian government was signed.

Full details about the terms and conditions of the search were not made available and no press release about the agreement signing was issued, but Malaysia’s transport minister, Anthony Loke, said that the Malaysian government would not be required to pay Ocean Infinity unless the wreckage of the aircraft was discovered, “with a success fee amounting to US$70 million”.

Ocean Infinity said that it would be focusing in its new search on an area between latitudes 33°S and 36°S, wider from the 7th Arc than was previously searched.

The original decision to search for MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean was based on calculations by the British company Inmarsat that were based on satellite pings – or handshakes – from MH370. Inmarsat said MH370 was most likely to be found along what became known as the 7th Arc.

There are investigators who doubt the validity of the Inmarsat data and some of them are not convinced that MH370 reached the southern Indian Ocean. There are those who continue to have faith in the data, but question the deductions that have been made.

Chinese next of kin appeal to Anwar

The next of kin of the Chinese MH370 passengers have written an open letter to the Malaysian prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, appealing to the Malaysian government to “transform the ‘no find, no fee’ reward search into an open, transparent, continuous reward search with no time limit, no limit on scope, and no limit on objects”.

There were 154 Chinese passengers on board MH370 when it disappeared.

The Chinese next of kin said in their open letter: “Twelve years have passed, and more than three thousand days and nights. Our thoughts have never stopped, and our tears have never dried up.

“We are still waiting – waiting for news about our loved ones, waiting for the truth to surface, and waiting for the world to give everyone an explanation.”

Waiting, the next of kin said, was a “long and silent torture” for them.

They noted that, before today’s update from the Malaysian government, they had not received any briefings about the latest search after the update that covered January 6 to 15 this year.

They said on March 7: “Over the past two months, we have contacted the Malaysian ministry of transport, Malaysia Airlines, and the Chinese government many times, but there has been no response.”

Relatives of the Chinese passengers are expected tomorrow (Monday) to meet officials from China’s foreign ministry, which they have been doing every year on the anniversary of MH370’s disappearance.

They are also expected to visit the Malaysian embassy in Beijing to deliver their letter to Anwar.

Priority search locations

The search in March 2025 focused on the following two areas:

An area known as the Independent Group (IG) location, suggested by independent investigators Bobby Ulich and Victor Iannello that had already been partly searched, but which Iannello and Ulich said needed scouring again, with a widened scope. This area, which is about 2,000 km west of Perth, Australia, is centred on 34.2°S 93.8°E.
A zone suggested by Jean-Luc Marchand from Belgium and retired Air France pilot Patrick Blelly that had not previously been searched and is around a 35.7°S 93°E centrepoint.

Other areas that have been identified as possible locations for MH370 include:

An area suggested by Australian airline captain Peter Turner that is within a 25 nautical miles radius of 34.2°S, 93.2°E, inside the 7th Arc.
Broken Ridge, at 32.5°S, 96.5°E, which American amateur investigator Blaine Gibson and oceanographer Charitha Pattiaratchi from the University of Western Australia (UWA) say is the most important priority location. Gibson and Pattiaratchi argue that any new search should not be focused too narrowly along the 7th Arc and should include the whole UWA area, which extends from 28.3°S to 33.2°S. Gibson has found, retrieved and/or delivered numerous pieces of debris believed to be from MH370.
A location suggested by independent investigator Richard Godfrey that is now centred on 29.128°S, 99.934°E. Godfrey has conducted analyses using the Global Detection and Tracking of Any Aircraft Anywhere (GDTAAA) software based on Weak Signal Propagation Reporter (WSPR) data. He has monitored radio signals sent out by radio amateurs around the world.

Initially Godfrey’s WSPR calculations attracted significant interest, but, over time, scepticism has grown, not least because those calculations have changed numerous times, going from a suggested crash site location at 33.17 °S, 95.3°E to one at 30.57°S, 98.75°E and then to a location centred on 29.12°S, 99.93°E. Only about half of the area Godfrey previously suggested has been scoured to date.

Blaine Gibson says Godfrey now seems to have shifted his suggested location a third time. “It appears that he has nudged it a bit eastwards,” he told Changing Times.

“Mr Godfrey now claims that WSPR tracking proves MH370 was piloted to the end. He claims that WSPR detected MH370 gliding east – just far enough so that all of the WSPR area was then outside the zone previously searched.”

Other researchers say WSPR would not be able to detect such movement by an aircraft.

Gibson adds: “The most recent WSPR location, at 29.1°S 99.9°E, is within the UWA area and needs to be searched, but I don’t believe that MH370 is any more likely to be at the WSPR location than anywhere else in the UWA area, and probably less.”

He notes that the recent recovery of a piece of debris found in Madagascar that he refers to as ‘NO STEP 2’ because of its distinctive lettering supports the hypothesis that there was a mid-air breakup of MH370’s right wing.

“This is yet another debris find that refutes the theory that MH370 was brought down in a controlled ditching,” he said.

Gibson says that ‘NO STEP 2’ refutes the theory, espoused by Richard Godfrey and some others, that Captain Zaharie tried to put MH370 into a “dive, recovery, glide” and ditch it into the ocean.

“You can’t glide a plane if the wing broke apart, and you cannot even attempt to ditch without a wing. So, if the wing did break apart in the air, that totally disproves both of those theories,” he said.

“Eleven pieces of debris recovered from the right wing indicate that the plane broke apart in the air during a high-speed spiral dive.

“Even if the aircraft did not break apart mid-air, the debris demonstrates that there was not a controlled ditching of MH370.”

Areas searched to date

To date, Ocean Infinity has fully searched the Blelly-Marchand area and the main and eastern parts of the IG area.

Part of the area suggested by Peter Turner, which is within the main portion of the IG’s suggested location, has been searched.

One place that hasn’t been searched is the portion of the IG area that is northwest of the 7^th Arc, which also includes a part of Peter Turner’s suggested location.

Turner said today that March 8 this year marked “12 years of unanswered questions”.

He said the most recent search by Ocean Infinity was paused after only about half of the agreed search area had been examined.

“The remaining half of that search area – inside the 7th Arc between latitudes 33°S and 36°S in the southern Indian Ocean – remains unsearched,” Turner said.

“This location corresponds with the simplest accident scenario: a diversion toward Sultan Iskandar Muda International Airport in Banda Aceh following a catastrophic failure such as an oxygen system rupture, leaving the crew incapacitated.”

Turner added: “It should also be remembered that the crew oxygen bottle had been repressurised shortly before departure, meaning any failure would raise serious maintenance questions for Malaysia Airlines.

“After 12 years, the most likely accident location remains unsearched. Until the full search area is completed, the families of those aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 still do not have the answers they deserve.”

Another area that hasn’t been searched extends from 33°S to 33.2°S and is the southernmost sliver of the UWA area. This part of the UWA area was included in the Ocean Infinity search proposal that was presented to Malaysia’s transport minister, Anthony Loke, during the 10-year MH370 remembrance event in Kuala Lumpur in 2024. The Broken Ridge location was not included the proposal.

V.P.R. Nathan (left), whose wife, Anne Daisy, was a passenger on MH370, presents Ocean Infinity’s new proposal to Anthony Loke at the 10th anniversary event.

The initial WSPR location was included in the proposal presented to Loke in March 2024, but the subsequent ones are not.

Next of kin ‘still waiting’

K S Narendran, whose wife, Chandrika Sharma, was on board MH370 when the plane disappeared, said in a blog post posted on January 2 that he was not at peace with many unanswered questions.

“While the passage of time has helped settle the emotional unrest and the void arising from loss, not knowing what or who caused the disappearance of the plane remains a troubling mystery,” he wrote.

“If a successful search also helps to unravel the mystery of the disappearance, some of the turmoil that festers in the background will hopefully settle.”

Narendren wrote that there was an air of optimism and hope, but there was also silent desperation.

“There is a sense that this might be our best and last shot at finding the plane,” he wrote before the current search was suspended.

“The search is a daunting task and an expensive one, and given the probabilistic nature of search recommendations, it would be premature to place high hopes on a successful find.”

Narendran said affected families of passengers had been buffeted by “fantastic claims, conflicting and sometimes unverified information, and hypotheses about what or who was responsible for the flight’s disappearance”. It was hard to disbelieve and simultaneously difficult to trust any source, he said.

On a ‘Sit Down With Sid’ podcast, premiered on March 7, Narendran talked about his personal journey as he has navigated his way through loss and not knowing.

It was important, Narendran said, to keep the questions alive, to “keep the issue of MH370 alive”.

Answers, Narendran said, were important, not just for himself, but for people at large. “This all impacts aviation safety,” he said.

As regards communication about the search, he said the not knowing bothered him.

“Not that anybody has all the answers, but, for some of these things, I think it is legitimate to expect that there will be accurate, authentic communication, and on time,” he added.

Narendran said that, five or six years after MH370 disappeared, closure for him had become a choice. “The reality screamed at me that the plane is missing and it may be found, or may not be found, but that my wife is not going to come back,” he said.

“Emotionally there was, I think, an acceptance that we’ve been through a tragedy, we have lost, we have suffered, we have grieved and, through it, perhaps we have also grown.”

At the end of the podcast, Narendran paid tribute to Jacquita Gonzales, who died on April 28, 2025. Jacquita’s husband, Patrick Gomes, was an in-flight supervisor on MH370.

Narendran said Jacquita had been “a very strong, powerful voice on behalf of the families, speaking up and asking the uncomfortable questions, without rancour and always with a smile; never giving up”.

K.S. Narendran with Jacquita Gonzales and her granddaughter Alessandra at the 2019 remembrance event.

The Chinese next of kin said in their open letter to Anwar Ibrahim: “Twelve years have passed, and more than three thousand days and nights. Our thoughts have never stopped, and our tears have never dried up.”

They added: “If the search has been stopped prematurely, why? If it didn’t stop, why didn’t you tell us? We just want a transparent and continuous response, and we just want to protect the family’s most basic right to know.”

The Chinese next of kin said that, for 12 years, they had received almost no real psychological assistance.

“There is only one 400 number that often fails to get through, which has become the coldest and loneliest way of contact between us and Malaysia,” they wrote.

“We just want to be seen, heard, and treated as human beings with emotions and dignity.”

The Chinese families noted that, at the end of 2025, a Chinese court issued a judgment about Malaysia Airlines’ liability, and Malaysia Airlines complied with the ruling.

Jiang Hui, whose mother, Jiang Cuiyun, was a passenger on MH370 when it went missing, explained that Malaysia Airlines had paid the compensation awarded by the Chinese court.

Malaysia Airlines’ compensation obligations had been fulfilled, he said, but the Malaysian government’s task had not yet been completed.

The Kuala Lumpur High Court previously ruled that the Malaysian government should pay financial aid to 22 Chinese family members, the next of kin said.

“So far, the family members have not received this money. We implore the Malaysian government to treat all family members in a humane and equal manner so that we will no longer suffer additional pain and injustice due to differences in country, region, and litigation procedures,” they wrote in their letter to Anwar.

The Chinese next of kin added: “We are not trying to embarrass anyone, nor are we trying to blame anyone. We are just a group of people who have lost loved ones and have been unable to grieve. We want closure, a chance for children, parents, brothers and sisters to let go of their sorrow.

“We still believe in kindness and justice, and we still believe that the friendship between the peoples of China and Malaysia can withstand the test of time. I hope you can understand our hearts, listen to our voices, and help push this incident to an end as soon as possible.”

Jiang Hui (left) with Malaysia’s transport minister, Anthony Loke, at the MH370 remembrance event in 2019.

‘7^th Arc calculation may be inaccurate’

Peter Turner, who has spent more than 6,000 hours researching MH370’s disappearance, thinks that the 7^th Arc calculation being used in the search may be inaccurate.

He thinks one of the crew’s oxygen bottles ruptured and adjacent equipment was destroyed.

“The Left Wire Integration Panel was right next to the oxygen bottles,” Turner told Changing Times. “Everything that failed on MH370 relies on that box.”

He says that, if there was damage to the electronics bay, it’s highly probable that the calculations of the 7th Arc would be wrong.

“This would mean that the 7^th Arc should be a bit closer to Arc 6 and the search should be conducted inside Arc 7,” he said.

“I think the crew worked through the problems and got the autopilot back up and running. Then they programmed a diversion to an airport like Banda Aceh to try and save the plane, and that’s when they passed out.

“Then the aircraft would have followed the autopilot route, gone over Banda Aceh, and then continued south until it ran out of fuel.”

Turner thinks MH370 may have diverted towards Banda Aceh airport via the NILAM and SANOB waypoints.

Another expert who suggests that one of the crew’s oxygen bottles may have ruptured is a senior British Boeing 777 airline captain who asked not to be named and is referred to here as Captain A.

Captain A explains that emergency oxygen for the crew is stored in the avionics bay, which is located immediately beneath the flight deck.

He says that, if an oxygen bottle ruptured, it could be propelled into the fuselage structure, would breach the hull, and would cause decompression of the aircraft.

Captain A suggests that the transponder could have been disabled when hit by the valve end of a bottle, or the power to it severed as the bottles sit next to the power source. This, the pilot says, would cause the aircraft to disappear from radar and any number of other pieces of equipment could be affected by such an explosion.

“With the aircraft’s decompression, the pilots would be incapacitated within minutes because of hypoxia and the fact that the emergency crew oxygen supply was destroyed,” he told Changing Times.

Aduwati Sali, who is a professor of satellite communications engineering at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), has re-examined the satellite handshakes in collaboration with another Malaysian researcher, Alyani Ismail.

She doesn’t propose an alternative crash location but says that confidence in the 7^th Arc may be overstated. She questions whether the Inmarsat data can support the precise claims that are being made about MH370’s final location.

Possible attempt to land at Penang

One of the airline pilots who is investigating MH370’s disappearance, who also asked not to be named so is referred to here as Captain B, thinks that the MH370 pilots may have tried to land at Penang International Airport, but were unsuccessful.

“I am not sure if this was the case, but it is definitely something that needs to be considered,” Captain B, who holds licences from the civil aviation authorities of the United States, Australia, China and Indonesia, told Changing Times.

The main source of data for Captain B’s analysis is information captured by Malaysia’s military primary radar. This data was cited in the full ICAO safety investigation report.

Disinformation and antagonism

Behind the scenes, several independent investigators are working hard to try and find out what happened to MH370. In the absence of the black boxes this is an arduous task, but there are still those who are digging into such information as there is.

People’s work is, however, being hampered by a toxic atmosphere of mud-slinging and disinformation by certain individuals, with abuse and insults being thrown around online, including attacks on bona fide investigators and even against Ocean Infinity.

K S Narendran said in his January 2 blog post that the sharp differences among those involved in, or commenting on, MH370’s disappearance had been disconcerting at times.

While there are investigators such as Bobby Ulich and Peter Turner, and the pilots I refer to in this article as Captain A and Captain B, who remain professional and civil with other investigators, there are those who have launched vicious attacks on others who are investigating MH370’s disappearance with whom they disagree.

Don Thompson and Victor Iannello, who are both members of the IG group, have insulted Turner publicly online.

Blaine Gibson used to appear as a guest on Geoffrey Thomas’s YouTube channel, Airline News, but was removed for challenging Thomas and Godfrey’s disinformation.

Thomas then blocked Gibson and anyone supporting him from commenting. He continues to mislead viewers about why Gibson no longer appears on his show and makes out that the two of them are “colleagues”.

Gibson didn’t step back from being interviewed “due to the significant amount of unfair criticism he has received on this channel and the animosity that it then creates”, as Thomas claims.

Viewers have asked when Gibson is coming back, but he isn’t allowed to answer, even in a viewer comment.

Thomas has also maligned Ocean Infinity and has whipped up viewer animosity against the company for not searching the WSPR area and for making very few public statements.

Gibson says disinformation didn’t affect where Ocean Infinity decided to search.

“They made their decisions on where to search based upon science and evidence and the scenarios that they were presented with, and they set their priorities based on that,” he told Changing Times.

“However, the incredibly toxic, hostile, rivalrous atmosphere around the MH370 investigation may cause the company to remain quiet. It causes other underwater search companies that are interested to remain totally anonymous and others to not want to be involved at all. ”

Gibson adds: “The personal attacks that have been made on me, and on Peter Turner, are of a purely personal nature. It just has to do with us as people, and, in Peter’s case, what handles he uses on the Internet in order to deliver his reports. They are purely vicious personal attacks.”

A plethora of hypotheses

There are numerous conflicting theories about what caused the disappearance of MH370. They range from a hijacking, mechanical failure, and the plane being shot down to Ashton Forbes’ much-derided theory that MH370 was abducted using advanced, classified US military technology.

Many people continue to blame the chief pilot of MH370, Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah. This is despite there being no evidence proving that the captain brought down MH370 deliberately.

Contrary to what is alleged by certain self-appointed experts, it is not assumed within the airline industry that Captain Zaharie committed murder-suicide.

Many pilots think that Zaharie tried to save MH370 and those on board.

Despite the lack of evidence, there continues to be a strong disinformation push from those who say Captain Zaharie brought down MH370 deliberately.

Geoffrey Thomas and Richard Godfrey, who appears regularly as a co-host on Airline News and now also has his own YouTube channel, are two of the main proponents of the allegation that the captain committed murder-suicide. They dismiss all challenges to that allegation.

YouTube users who have argued that there is no proof that Captain Zaharie deliberately brought down MH370 say that Thomas has censored their comments, but Thomas denies this.

Even though it is unfounded speculation, the claim that Zaharie’s home simulator is a “smoking gun” has been repeated by dozens of Thomas’s YouTube viewers.

Godfrey and Thomas have thousands of followers, many of whom amplify the anti-Zaharie propaganda with comments that range from misinformed supposition to abusive slurs.

Some of the ideas expressed in these comments are too outrageous to warrant a challenge. Commentators have claimed that Zaharie parachuted out of MH370 and that he had organised for someone in a boat to meet him and pick him up.

In its full report, the Malaysian International Civil Aviation Organisation Annex 13 Safety Investigation Team for MH370 said it was not of the opinion that Captain Zaharie caused the plane’s disappearance.

The 1,423-page full report was published on July 30, 2018, but it was inconclusive. The lead investigator, Kok Soo Chon, said the team was “unable to determine the real cause for the disappearance of MH370”.

Much has been made of discoveries made on Captain Zaharie’s home simulator, but, contrary to widespread speculation, there was no route on the simulator that matched the path that MH370 is believed to have taken.

It is not even sure that the ‘route’ Zaharie allegedly programmed into the Indian Ocean was an actual route. Investigators just found waypoint coordinates in the computer’s ‘volume shadow’ information backup area, but the Royal Malaysia Police (RMP) could not determine whether the waypoints came from one or more files.

They didn’t find any data that showed a similar route to that believed to have been flown by MH370.

The RMP, who seized the simulator from Zaharie’s home on March 15, 2014, said investigators found seven ‘manually programmed’ waypoint coordinates in the ‘volume shadow copy’ backup area of the captain’s computer that, when connected together, would create a flight path from Kuala Lumpur International Airport to an area in the southern Indian Ocean through the Andaman Sea.

The police said in their report, however, that they could not determine whether those waypoints came from one or more files.

The RMP report states that the coordinates were stored in a Volume Shadow Information (VSI) file dated February 3, 2014.

One independent investigator (a pilot and IT expert) has told me that the seven manually programmed waypoint coordinates spoken of by the RMP and found in the computer’s ‘volume shadow’ information backup area could not all have been backed up during Zaharie’s alleged 72-minute simulator session.

This leaves us with many unanswered questions, but the simulator does not point to Zaharie’s guilt.

“After in-depth analysis, including a review of volume shadow copy functionality and real-world testing of the simulator setup, I concluded that at least four of these files were temporary files that Windows 7 would not have been able to back up during Zaharie’s alleged 72-minute session,” the expert told Changing Times.

“I suggest that these files were either created at a later date, after the simulator was seized, or introduced from another source.”

The RMP forensic report, dated May 19, 2014, documented more than 2,700 coordinates retrieved from separate file fragments. It said that most of them were “default game coordinates”. The RMP concluded that “there were no unusual activities other than game-related flight simulations”.

Search history

The MAS Family Support Centre (Malaysia Aviation Group) emailed the following to the MH370 next of kin on April 15 last year:

In the second phase of the search, Ocean Infinity was using Armada 86 05. In early February, after refuelling and calibrating autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) at a sonar test area off the coast of Australia, the ship didn’t return to the search area.

It went to Pago Pago in American Samoa to continue seafloor mapping in the American Samoa Exclusive Economic Zone for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Armada 86 05 had arrived at the MH370 search area in the early hours of December 31, 2025, Malaysia time.

The Association for Families of the Passengers and Crew on board MH370 said in an update on Facebook on January 1 this year that Ocean Infinity had successfully deployed two HUGIN AUVs and was “currently on mission surveying the southern sector of the search area”.

The families’ association posted an update on Facebook on January 5 that provided Ocean Infinity’s ‘daily operations and progress reports’ from January 2 to 4, 2026.

According to the update, two HUGIN AUVs were successfully redeployed on January 2. A third AUV was launched, but experienced a technical fault shortly after deployment. On January 3, deployment of the third AUV was deferred because of unfavourable sea conditions.

On January 4, both of the deployed AUVs successfully completed their assigned missions and were safely recovered onboard Armada 86 05.

“While all three AUVs were confirmed to be technically ready for subsequent missions, persistent adverse sea conditions throughout the day prevented any further launches,” Ocean Infinity stated in its update.

“Search operations were therefore temporarily paused and remain weather-dependent.”

As of January 4, 2026, Armada 86 05 remained on station on the southern side of the 7th Arc, Ocean Infinity added.

“All three HUGIN AUVs are fully operational and ready for deployment. However, the continuation of seabed search activities is currently subject to improved sea and weather conditions, with operations expected to resume once safe launch criteria are met,” the company said.

It said the cumulative search area covered as of January 4 totalled 2,900.25 km².

On January 19, Malaysia’s transport ministry issued a summary progress report covering January 6 to 15.

Earlier searches

In 2018, Ocean Infinity spent more than three months searching for MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean. The company scoured, and collected data from, more than 112,000 square kilometres of ocean floor, which is far in excess of the initial 25,000-square-kilometre target and almost the same area as was examined in the previous search over a period of two and a half years.

The previous Australian-led underwater search was suspended on January 17, 2017, after an area spanning 120,000 square kilometres was scoured.

Debris finds

Blaine Gibson dismisses claims that the wreckage of MH370 is intact under water. “This is obviously false and delusional,” he said.

In all, sixty pieces of MH370 debris either confirmed or thought to be from MH370 have been picked up and Gibson would describe twenty of the retrieved items as “key pieces”.

He added: “The recovered debris pieces are from all parts of the aircraft and all but two or three are small and shattered.

“The fact that 25 pieces of shattered debris from the main cabin have been retrieved demonstrates that the fuselage and main cabin tragically broke apart on impact with the ocean.”

In all, more than thirty pieces of debris have been examined by the Malaysian authorities and three of them have been confirmed in official reports to be from MH370.

Malaysia’s International Civil Aviation Organisation Annex 13 Safety Investigation Team for MH370 stated in its full report, published on July 30, 2018, that 27 significant pieces of debris had been recovered and examined at the time it was produced.

Seven pieces of debris, including some cabin interior items, had been determined to be “almost certainly” from the plane, eight pieces were “highly likely” to be from MH370, and one piece was “likely” to be from the plane, the report stated.

Debris that has been found was recovered on Réunion Island and in Madagascar, Tanzania, Mauritius, Mozambique, and South Africa.

Gibson notes that the Annex 13 team was disbanded in 2019. “Malaysia has not published any investigation of any debris since then,” he said.

In addition to the 33 pieces mentioned in the Annex 13 report, there are another 27 pieces that that have been identified by experts from photographs. Gibson says.

“Some of those were delivered to Malaysia, but Malaysia didn’t do an official investigation because the Annex 13 team had already been disbanded,” he told Changing Times.