Twelve years after the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, a fresh potential search location has been proposed by American businessman Randy Rolston. His new analysis points to a surge in carbon monoxide detected by NASA on the morning of March 8, 2014, as a possible 'smoking gun' that could identify where the aircraft crashed into the Indian Ocean.
In a 19-page report, Rolston suggests that Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 52, may have intentionally crashed the Boeing 777 into the Wharton Basin, a particularly deep section of the Indian Ocean. The 621-square-mile area is roughly 683 miles off the coast of Western Australia and nearly 1,000 miles north of the region previously searched by authorities.
Rolston has urged authorities to extend their search to this new area, arguing that substantial parts of it were overlooked during the initial 2014 search. 'Finding the aircraft would finally provide them with a measure of clarity and closure,' he said, referring to the families of the 239 people on board.
The disappearance of MH370 remains one of aviation's biggest mysteries. The plane departed Kuala Lumpur at 12.41am local time on March 8, 2014, bound for Beijing. After a routine radio transmission 38 minutes later, no further communication was received. The aircraft deviated from its course and disappeared from military radar at around 2am, though satellite pings continued until just past 8am.
Debris confirmed to be from Flight 370 washed up in the western Indian Ocean in 2015 and 2016, but the main fuselage and the bodies of the 227 passengers and 12 crew have never been found. Rolston believes the plane was intentionally plunged into the ocean approximately 680 miles east of Coral Bay, Western Australia.
