A significant breakthrough may have emerged in the ongoing mystery of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which vanished a decade ago.
An Australian scientist believes he has pinpointed the exact location where the aircraft, carrying 239 passengers and crew, likely crashed. The flight, which was en route to Beijing, disappeared from radar on March 8, 2014, as it entered Vietnamese airspace.
Despite extensive search efforts, the fate of MH370 has remained one of the most perplexing aviation mysteries in history, with only a few fragments of debris ever recovered.
Vincent Lyne, a researcher from the University of Tasmania, claims that the aircraft was deliberately flown into a remote area of the Indian Ocean known as the Broken Ridge, a vast underwater plateau characterised by deep ravines and volcanic features.
Lyne describes this area as an ideal location to conceal the wreckage, making it “a perfect hiding place” for the doomed flight.
Lyne shared his findings on social media, stating: “This work changes the narrative of MH370’s disappearance from one of no-blame, fuel-starvation at the 7th arc, high-speed dive, to a mastermind pilot almost executing an incredible perfect disappearance in the Southern Indian Ocean.”
He believes the plane was purposefully directed into a 20,000-foot-deep chasm at the eastern end of the Broken Ridge.
His research supports the theory that the pilot, Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, may have deliberately crashed the plane in a carefully planned act of murder-suicide.
Lyne argues that the crash site aligns precisely with a track discovered on the pilot’s home flight simulator, which had been dismissed by investigators as irrelevant.
Richard Godfrey, a retired British aerospace engineer, has also suggested that the wreckage of MH370 lies near Broken Ridge, 13,000 feet below the ocean’s surface. Using a combination of satellite data and new tracking technology, Godfrey believes he has accurately located the crash site.
“All four align with one particular point in the Indian Ocean”, he claimed, referring to the data from satellites, oceanography, drift analysis, and Boeing’s performance data.
Despite previous search efforts missing the Broken Ridge location by just 28 kilometres in 2018, Lyne and other experts are urging that this area be prioritised for future searches.
“The proof awaits, as do many who have lost loved ones”, Lyne said.
The theory that Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah intentionally downed the plane is supported by various experts.
Some point to the plane’s flight logs, which indicate additional fuel and oxygen were loaded onto the aircraft, potentially as part of a premeditated plan. Others, including a former colleague of Shah’s, believe the pilot locked his co-pilot out of the cockpit before crashing the plane.
