New evidence points to final resting place of missing MH370

Nick Perry/Pool/Getty Images

(Image credit: Operators search for MH370 in 2014)

The head of the failed search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is calling for a fresh inquiry based on new evidence that may finally solve the mystery of the aircraft’s disappearance exactly seven years ago today.

What happened to the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 MH370: mysterious 89kg load ‘added to cargo flight list after take-off’

However, Foley has now told The Times that new research by oceanographers and flight experts suggests the wreckage may lie in another, as-yet unexplored region of the ocean.

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The Sun reports that the new evidence is based on “analysis of a piece of Boeing 777 debris that washed up on a beach in South Africa last August”. A newly released report by an independent group of experts says that the wing spoiler is believed to be from MH370 and that the damage indicates it was torn off the aircraft in an uncontrolled high-speed dive.

The finding “counters alternate theories of a ditching by a rogue pilot”. And “ocean drift analysis and a review of a revised flight path” suggest that the plane probably “went down about 1,200 miles west of Cape Leeuwin, Western Australia, in an area notorious for its deep ocean floor canyons and underwater mountains”, The Times adds.

Foley told the paper that “a new inquiry should inspect the sea floor 70 nautical miles either side of the target area”.

The Malaysian government has previously said that it would need compelling new evidence before mounting another search.

Joe Evans is the world news editor at TheWeek.co.uk. He joined the team in 2019 and held roles including deputy news editor and acting news editor before moving into his current position in early 2021. He is a regular panellist on The Week Unwrapped podcast, discussing politics and foreign affairs.

Before joining The Week, he worked as a freelance journalist covering the UK and Ireland for German newspapers and magazines. A series of features on Brexit and the Irish border got him nominated for the Hostwriter Prize in 2019. Prior to settling down in London, he lived and worked in Cambodia, where he ran communications for a non-governmental organisation and worked as a journalist covering Southeast Asia. He has a masterâ€™s degree in journalism from City, University of London, and before that studied English Literature at the University of Manchester.