MH 370 the lost aircraft
The Malaysian Airlines aircraft MH370, that went missing on 8th
March 2014 with 239 passengers on board has sunken into the Indian Ocean with
no survivors said an official statement in Kuala Lumpur. The search for the
ill-fated, Beijing-bound aircraft went on for about 16 days after which,
the presumption of the aircraft having gone down the southern part of the
Indian ocean came forth. Let’s take a look at the complete timeline of events –
read all that happened.
March 8: Contact with flight MH370, which took off from Kuala Lumpur at
12.40 a.m., is lost at 1.40 a.m. and it vanishes from radar when flying over
the Ho Chi Minh air traffic control area in Vietnam. It was expected to land in
Beijing at 6.30 a.m. the same day.
March 8: There are speculations about the missing jet crashing into the
South China Sea off Vietnam, according to a report given by Rear Admiral Ngo
Van Phat, political commissar of the Fifth Naval Region of Vietnam.
March 8: Reports of a possible crash denied by Malaysian Transport
Minister Hishamuddin Hussein, who says that no sign of any plane wreckage has
been found in the suggested crash site.
March 8: Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang Saturday
order emergency measures over the missing Malaysia Airlines flight.
March 8: The Civil Aviation Administration of China informed by
Vietnamese civil aviation authorities that Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore
conducting a joint search south of Vietnam’s Tho Chu Islands. China dispatches
two maritime rescue ships to the South China Sea to help in rescue work.
March 8: Vietnamese Deputy Transport Minister Pham Quy Tieu says rescuers
are expected to arrive in waters near the southern Phu Quoc Island where two
“suspicious” oil slicks are spotted.
March 9: A team assembled by the Chinese transport ministry sets out on
two vessels from the Sanya port in Hainan province to the South China Sea area
where the flight MH370 suspected to have plunged.
March 9: Malaysian authorities say the aircraft may have turned back
before it disappeared. They also investigate two passengers who they say used
false passports to board the plane.
March 10: One of the two suspects with stolen passports is identified as
an Iranian teen, but it is concluded he had no terror links.
March 10: Search expanded to the Andaman Sea as well as the Gulf of
Thailand, apart from the South China Sea. The US, Australia and New Zealand
offer to help with the operations to look for the missing jet.
March 11: The US Navy dispatches one more Arleigh Burke-class
guided-missile destroyer to join the multinational search. The USS Kidd joins
the USS Pinckney in the search efforts.
March 11: China sends its second naval vessel, Jinggangshan, to the target
sea area forming a unit with Mianyang.
March 11: Interpol denies terror link to the disappearance of the jet.
March 12: Search area further widened to the Strait of Malacca, on the
western coast of Malaysia, after reports of finding possible debris that are
later denied.
March 12: Search and rescue teams move to the Andaman Sea to the south of
Thailand.
March 12: China sends third military aircraft to join the search
operations.
March 13: Possible speculations are made by the US Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) after it warned of a “cracking” problem on Boeing-777
airplanes, just days before flight MH370 went missing.
March 13: India joins the search for the missing Malaysian aircraft,
pressing into service its navy, air force and the coast guard.
March 14: Search for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane is expanded to
the Indian Ocean based on new but inconclusive information about the aircraft,
the White House says.
March 14: Chinese researchers detect a “seafloor event” in the waters
between Malaysia and Vietnam, an area suspected to be linked with the plane’s
disappearance.
March 14: 57 ships and 48 aircraft involving 13 countries are engaged in
the search.
March 15: Investigators conclude that the flight MH370 was hijacked.
According to the reports, the communication devices might have been deliberately
switched off and the hijackers might have turned the flight around.
March 15: It is reported that a British satellite system operated by
Inmarsat received an automated signal from flight MH370 at least five hours
after the plane was reported lost.
March 15: Vietnam ends search for
the missing jet since nothing is found in the South China Sea.
March 15: Police search the homes of pilot Captain Zaharie Ahmed Shah and
co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid and find a personal flight simulator in Zaharie’s
residence.
March 15: The Thai navy suspends its search over the Gulf of Thailand and
Andaman Sea.
March 15: India intensifies efforts by deploying additional naval and air
assets for searching an expanded area in central and east Bay of Bengal and the
Andaman Sea.
March 16: Reports say that the pilot and co-pilot did not ask to fly
together.
March 16: The Malaysian government asks for assistance from as many as 25
countries, including Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan,
Bangladesh, India, China, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Australia.
March 16: India suspends search but stays on stand-by.
March 17: Search continues for the missing jet with focus shifting to the
Indian Ocean with help offered by the Australian government.
March 18: Two search corridors narrowed down with the northern corridor
extending to south and central Asia and the southern corridor covering a zone
stretching over the Indian Ocean to Australia.
March 19: Maldives island residents report seeing “low flying plane”
making an incredibly loud noise on the morning of the plane’s disappearance.
March 19: Malaysian police investigate the flight simulator found in
Captain Zaharie’s residence.
March 19: The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) conducts the
search in a smaller area closer to the Western Australian coast.
March 19: All game logs were found to have been deleted from Zaharie’s
personal flight simulator Feb 3. Further investigations carried on by police.
March 19: Bangladesh searches Bay of Bengal.
March 20: Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott announces that two
objects, the larger one 24 metres long, possibly related to the missing
Malaysian airliner found in the southern Indian Ocean. Four aircraft are sent
to the area 2,500 km southwest of Perth, the capital of Western Australia
state.
March 21: Britain deploys a Royal Navy ship to help in search for the
missing passenger jet.
March 21: India dispatches a long endurance transport aircraft of Indian
Air Force and a maritime surveillance aircraft of the navy to join the search.
March 22: The suspicious objects spotted by satellite in the southern
Indian Ocean remain “the best lead” in the massive search, says acting Prime
Minister of Australia, Warren Truss.
March 22: Norway joins the search.
March 22: Two Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft of the Chinese air force leave
Malaysia for Australia to join the search for the missing Malaysian airliner in
the southern Indian Ocean.
March 22: A Chinese satellite image shows a 22-metre-long, 13-metre-wide
object in the southern Indian Ocean.
March 23: Search continues with no findings.
March 24: Two new objects that could be debris of the missing airliner are
spotted by searchers in the southern Indian Ocean area.
March 24: Malaysia receives a set of French satellite images “captured by
cameras” Sunday that might be related to the missing Malaysian airliner.
March 24: Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announces that new data has
confirmed that the flight “ended in the southern Indian Ocean”. Malaysia
Airlines says in a message to relatives of all those on board the aircraft that
there was no chance of any survivors.
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