New Study Reveals Where Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 Could Be Found

A more scientific approach is being conducted to locate the down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.

MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2014, during its flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Less than an hour after takeoff, the plane lost contact with air traffic controllers and disappeared over the sea taking 239 passengers and crew with it. Despite massive multi-national efforts for retrieval, no wreckage was found except some debris that reportedly belongs to the missing Malaysian Airlines plane.

Today, researchers from Italy used known debris from the flight to determine where the crash site could be. Their study was published in Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences.

"Our result is the first to calculate the movement of the debris that best agrees with all five of the currently confirmed discoveries. This should make it the most accurate prediction," Eric Jansen, a researcher at the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change and lead author of the study said in a statement.

Initial investigations and the search teams focused on the Indian Ocean where the plane believed to have crashed. But despite massive efforts, no major wreckage was recovered except debris washed up on the African east coast and islands near the Indian Ocean.

To locate the plane, the study created simulations based on many factors that can lead to the actual crash site. A part of the simulation overlaps with the area already identified by authorities as a possible crash site.

With the use of simulation and the confirmed debris from the plane, the researchers tried to identify where the wreckage could be found. This should make it the most accurate prediction,' said lead author Eric Jansen in another statement. "Our simulation shows that the debris could also have originated up to around 500 kilometers further to the north. If nothing is found in the current search area, it may be worth extending the search in this direction" Jansen added. Hopefully, the new data from the study can help to finally locate of the missing plane.

Researchers use an advanced computer model with oceanographic data from EU Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service to try and locate the missing MH370. For Jansen and the rest of the researchers, it is important to continue studying the path of the down MH370 as it was one of the most bizarre plane disappearances in history. Finding the wreckage can also mean closure for the families of the deceased.