After almost three years of underwater search, government officials halted the efforts to find the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (MH370). The plane disappeared without a trace over the Indian Ocean on March 8, 2014. Combined efforts from Chinese, Australian and Malaysian officials proved worthless for the MH370 search which only resulted to massive data on seabed -- no plane.
The MH370 is a regularly-scheduled international passenger flight by Malaysia Airlines. It was carrying 12 Malaysian crew members and 227 passengers from 15 countries. It made last contact an hour after take-off when it was over the South China Sea. Investigations conclude that it disappeared in the Indian Ocean but it was not able to find a trace of the aircraft or the reason why it disappeared. Its disappearance remains as one of the greatest mysteries in modern aviation.
"Despite every effort using the best science available, cutting edge technology, as well as modeling and advice from highly skilled professionals who are the best in their field, unfortunately, the search has not been able to locate the aircraft," a joint statement from Chinese, Australian and Malaysian officials said according to CNN. The statement added that the decision to stop the MH370 search was not taken lightly or without sadness.
Instead of the Boeing 777 wreckage, the deep-sea sonar search revealed the rich seabed beneath the Indian Ocean. The seabed was formed about millions of years and could contain oil fields. The detailed sonar mapping of the 120,000 square kilometers seabed will be released soon by the National geoscience agency Geoscience Australia according to ABC News.
"It hasn't been a waste of time, it's been a great step forward for science," Australian National University marine geologist Neville Exon said of the MH370 search. He added that two seafloor features in the search zones might contain oil and gas. Manganese, copper, iron ore, nickel and cobalt were also present in the seabed but Exon said it might not be financially viable to drill the gas or mine the minerals at the present. The map would give gas and oil explorers an idea of how the seabed in the Indian Ocean was formed, which could give them insights on finding energy fields closer to the shore.
