MH370: Timeline

Below are the key dates in the tragic disappearance of MH370. 2014 March 8: Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, a Boeing 777-200ER, missing on a flight from KL to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew aboard. March 17: Search moves to Southern Indian Ocean March 28: Search moves to 1800km west of Perth April 4: Search moves off Exmouth, Western Australia. April 7: “Black box” pings detected April 16: Underwater search starts May 29: Bluefin 21 search abandoned June 30: Seafloor mapping starts October 3: Towed side-scan sonar search starts 2015 April 7: Search area doubled to 120,000sqkm. July 29: Boeing 777 flaperon found on Reunion Island. 2016 March 2: Boeing 777 horizontal stabilizer find In Mozambique April 2: Interior piece of the plane found on the island of Rodrigues July 27: European scientists say that the search needs to move further north. November: Search experts meet and determine that a new area of 25,000sqkm north of existing area needs to be examined based on drift modeling done by CSIRO December: All told almost 30 pieces of debris found by beachcombers such as Blaine Gibson. 2017 January 6: Search vessel moves to a newly identified area for a final effort to find MH370. January 17: The underwater search for MH370 is officially suspended. April 21: New drift analysis of an actual wing part from a 777 confirms the most probable location of MH 370 within the proposed new 25,000 sq. km search area recommended by international experts in October of 2016. August 6: No find no fee offer by US-based Ocean Infinity to find MH370 made public. August 7: Relatives urge Malaysia Government to accept the offer. August 16: Re-examination of French satellite images virtually confirms CSRIO / ATSB location reports for MH370. October 16: AirlineRatings.com breaks story that Malaysia will accept Ocean Infinity’s offer to find MH370. October 19: Malaysia confirms AirlineRatings.com story of a resumption of the search. 2018 Jan 3: Ocean Infinity’s Seabed Constructor sets sail from Durban for sea trials and the search area. Jan 5: Malaysia finally confirms the deal with Ocean Infinity to find MH370 for up to US$70 million. Jan 11^th: Sea trials complete with Seabed Instructor on route to the search area. Jan 21st: Seabed Constructor due at search area.