SYDNEY, Australia — A fresh analysis of the final moments of doomed Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 suggests no one was controlling the plane when it plane plunged into the ocean.

The new analysis comes in a technical report released Wednesday by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau. The report seems to support the theory investigators have long — that no one was at the controls of the Boeing 777 when it ran out of fuel and plunged at high speed into a remote stretch of the Indian Ocean off Australia's west coast in 2014.

In recent months, critics have increasingly been pushing the alternate theory that someone was still controlling the plane at the end of its flight. If that was the case, the aircraft could have glided much farther. </s> A fresh analysis of the final moments of doomed Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 suggests no one was controlling the plane when it plunged into the ocean, according to a report released by investigators on Wednesday, as experts hunting for the aircraft gathered in Australia's capital to discuss the fading search effort.

A technical report released by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which leads the search, seems to support the theory investigators have long favored: that no one was at the controls of the Boeing 777 when it ran out of fuel and dove at high speed into a remote patch of the Indian Ocean off western Australia in 2014.

In recent months, critics have increasingly been pushing the alternate theory that someone was still controlling the plane at the end of its flight. If that was the case, the aircraft could have glided much farther, tripling in size the possible area where it could have crashed and further complicating the already hugely complex effort to find it.

PILOT'S MID-FLIGHT PROPOSAL DELIGHTS GIRLFRIEND AND PASSENGERS

But Wednesday's report shows that the latest analysis of satellite data is consistent with the plane being in a "high and increasing rate of descent" in its final moments. The report also said that an analysis of a wing flap that washed ashore in Tanzania indicates the flap was likely not deployed when it broke off the plane. A pilot would typically extend the flaps during a controlled ditching.

Peter Foley, the bureau's director of Flight 370 search operations, has previously said that if the flap was not deployed, it would almost certainly rule out the theory that the plane entered the water in a controlled ditch and would effectively validate that searchers are looking in the right place for the wreckage.

"(It) means the aircraft wasn't configured for a landing or a ditching — you can draw your own conclusions as to whether that means someone was in control," Foley told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday. "You can never be 100 percent. We are very reluctant to express absolute certainty."

The report's release comes as a team of international and Australian experts begin a three-day summit in Canberra to re-examine all the data associated with the hunt for the plane, which vanished during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board.

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More than 20 items of debris suspected or confirmed to be from the plane have washed ashore on coastlines throughout the Indian Ocean. But a deep-sea sonar search for the main underwater wreckage has found nothing. Crews are expect to complete their sweep of the 120,000-square kilometer (46,000-square mile) search zone by early next year and officials have said there are no plans to extend the hunt unless new evidence emerges that would pinpoint a specific location of the aircraft.

Australian Transport Minister Darren Chester said experts involved in this week's summit will be working on guidance for any potential future search operations.

Experts have been preemptively trying to define a new search area by studying where in the Indian Ocean the first piece of wreckage recovered from the plane — a wing flap known as a flaperon — most likely drifted from after the plane crashed.

Several replica flaperons were set adrift to see whether it is the wind or the currents that primarily affect how they move across the water. The results of that experiment have been factored into a fresh drift analysis of the debris. The preliminary results of that analysis, published in Wednesday's report, suggest the debris may have originated in the current search area, or to its north. The transport bureau cautioned that the analysis is ongoing and those results are likely to be refined. </s> (CNN) Missing plane Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was plunging toward the sea with no one in control when it made its last satellite communication, new analysis reveals.

A report released Wednesday by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau provided the clearest picture yet of the plane's final moments in March 2014.

"Additional analysis (of) the final satellite communications to and from the aircraft is consistent with the aircraft being in a high and increasing rate of descent at that time," the report said.

"Additionally, the wing flap debris analysis reduced the likelihood of end-of-flight scenarios involving flap deployment."

According to end of flight simulations run by the Australian bureau, the plane was spiraling in its final moments, descending at up to 25,000 feet per minute (284 mph).

"Therefore there was no way this airplane was being flown by anyone. It was out of control, ran out of fuel and spiraled into the sea at high speed."

The magazine quoted a leaked document from an FBI investigation that showed deleted files had been recovered from Zaharie's home-built flight simulator.

They reportedly revealed he had plotted a course into the deep southern Indian Ocean -- a course that closely matched the final flight MH370 is thought to have taken. Investigators said the simulator files had been created just weeks before the jet disappeared, according to the document.

The confidential document, whose contents were not independently confirmed by CNN, summarized the Malaysian police investigation into Zaharie.

In an email to CNN that same month, Joint Agency Coordination Center spokesman Scott Mashford said, "The MH370 captain's flight simulator showed someone had plotted a course to the southern Indian Ocean." The Australian agency is directing the search for MH370.

Mashford did not elaborate on who may have plotted the route.

In August, Malaysian Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai told reporters that Zaharie's personal flight simulator had practiced routes over the Indian Ocean, according to Malaysia's Bernama state news agency.

But the minister added there was no evidence to prove that Zaharie had piloted the aircraft to the southern Indian Ocean, Bernama reported, saying "the simulator was used by the pilot for trial and error in many areas. There are thousands of simulations to many destinations."

So far, 110,000 square kilometers (42,000 square miles) have been covered as part of the underwater search for MH370, with the hunt currently due to conclude at 120,000 square kilometers (46,000 square miles).

"Where they're looking is still the area where everyone agrees that's where the plane is," aviation expert Thomas said, adding there were slight disagreements in opinion.

"(But) we're only talking about small increments -- just variations as to exactly, precisely where it could be."

Australian Transport Minister Darren Chester said at a press conference Wednesday the new report confirmed that search crews had been combing the right area.

"To have not found the aircraft at this stage is frustrating for everyone involved and particularly for the families of the passengers and crew," Chester said.

The report came as officials from Malaysia, China and Australia and experts from the United States and United Kingdom met in Canberra, Australia, to discuss the ongoing search.

"They are reviewing all the available data and associated analysis, assumptions and modeling undertaken to inform the definition of the search area," Australian Transport Safety Bureau communication officer Dan O'Malley told CNN on Wednesday.

Thomas said there had been suggestions the meeting may decide to extend the search for MH370 beyond the current search zone.

"It's an opportunity to gather the experts from around the world to look at the available information, to exchange ideas," Chester said. "It's an opportunity for just a full assessment of how the underwater search is being carried out and a reassessment."

The meeting is due to run until Friday. </s> Timeline of the 3-year search for missing Malaysia plane

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — The end of the deep-sea sonar search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 leaves the largest and most technologically challenging search in aviation history unresolved. Some of the key moments in the search:

March 8, 2014: Air traffic control loses contact with the plane 40 minutes into a flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing. An air and sea search begins four hours later in the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea.

March 15, 2014: Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announces that Flight 370 was tracked by military radar doubling back across the Strait of Malacca and was sending satellite signals seven and a half hours after takeoff. The aircraft then flew either northwest toward central Asia as far as Kazakhstan or southwest over the southern Indian Ocean. Signal analysis quickly ruled out the northern flight path.

April 8, 2014: An Australian ship towing a U.S. Navy listening device hears two signals consistent with Flight 370's flight recorders west of Australia. Submerged a month, the recorders are near the end of their battery lives. "I'm now optimistic that we will find the aircraft, or what is left of the aircraft, in the not-too-distant future," search coordinator Angus Houston says. When the initial sonar search yields nothing, it's expanded to an area of 60,000 square kilometers (23,000 square miles).

April 28, 2014: The air search ends after failing to see a single piece of debris in 4.6 million square kilometers (1.8 million square miles) of ocean.

May 28, 2014: The underwater survey near where the acoustic signals were detected ends, with investigators concluding the area is not the final resting place of Flight 370 and they may never know the signals' origins.

June 26, 2014: Officials announce that Flight 370 most likely crashed southwest of the most recently suspected crash site, about 1,800 kilometers (1,100 miles) off Australia's west coast. The new 60,000-square kilometer (23,000-square mile) search area falls within the waters already searched by air, to no avail.

Aug. 28, 2014: The search area is refined south after analysis of a failed attempted satellite phone call to Flight 370 suggests the plane turned south earlier than previously thought.

Jan. 29, 2015: Malaysia formally declares Flight 370 an accident and says all 239 people on board are presumed dead, upsetting families but letting them obtain death certificates and start legal claims.

March 8, 2015: Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott doubles the area of the search to 120,000 square kilometers (46,000 square miles). Still, only 40 percent of the original zone has been searched. "It can't go on forever, but as long as there are reasonable leads, the search will go on," Abbott said. "We are reasonably confident of finding the plane."

March 10, 2015: The sonar search discovers the wreck of a 19th century cargo ship nearly 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) below the surface.

July 29, 2015: A wing part known as a flaperon found on Reunion Island, east of Madagascar, is confirmed as the first piece of the Boeing 777 to be recovered. More than 20 pieces certainly or highly likely to be parts of Flight 370 have since been found on coastlines throughout the Indian Ocean.

Dec. 19, 2015: The sonar search discovers a second shipwreck from the 19th century.

July 28, 2016: Australian officials confirm that data recovered from a home flight simulator owned by Flight 370 captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah showed that someone had used the device to plot a course to the southern Indian Ocean, bolstering speculation that he stole the plane in a premeditated plot.

Dec. 20, 2016: The Australian Transport Safety Bureau releases a report that says Flight 370 is unlikely to be in the 120,000 square kilometers (46,000 square miles) that has been almost completely searched and is more likely in a 25,000-square kilometer (9,700-square mile) area immediately to the north. </s> SYDNEY: Flight MH370 was likely out of control when it plunged into the ocean with its wing flaps not prepared for landing, a new report said Wednesday, casting doubt on theories a pilot was still in charge.

Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014 carrying 239 passengers and crew.

The report by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau found the plane’s final satellite communications were “consistent with the aircraft being in a high and increasing rate of descent” when it vanished.

Analysis of the right outboard flap—which was found off Tanzania—showed it was “most likely in the retracted position”, suggesting the plane was not configured for landing before it smashed into the ocean.

The new finding casts doubt on theories proposed by some analysts that a pilot had been flying the plane when it landed in the sea.

“You can draw your own conclusions,” the ATSB’s head of MH370 search operations Peter Foley told reporters, adding that the new findings showed “we’re looking for an aircraft that’s actually quite close to the seventh arc.”

The search zone—defined under the “most likely” scenario that no one was at the controls as the jet ran out of fuel—is a thin, long stretch of water within the so-called seventh arc, where the plane was calculated to have emitted a final satellite “handshake” showing its location.

“This report contains important new information on what we believe happened at the end of MH370’s flight,” Australia’s Transport Minister Darren Chester said at the start of a three-day meeting in Canberra where experts will plan the final stages of the search.

Despite a massive underwater hunt far off Western Australia’s coast, no trace of the jet has been found.

Investigators have however confirmed that three pieces of debris recovered along western Indian Ocean shorelines came from MH370.

More than 110,000 square kilometers (42,470 square miles) of a 120,000-square-kilometer search arc have been scoured so far and the operation is due to wrap up in early 2017.

Experts at this week’s meeting will “review all the available data and analysis associated with the search to date,” Chester said in a statement.

Their findings will “inform the remainder of the search effort, and develop guidance for any future search operations.”

“There are currently more than 20 items of debris of interest to the investigation team which have been located on the coasts of Africa, Madagascar, the islands of Mauritius, Reunion and Rodrigues,” he added.

Ongoing drift analysis also suggested the search focused on the right place, the ATSB said, noting it was “unlikely debris originated south of the current search area.

“The northernmost regions were also found to be less likely,” it added.

Chester said he remained hopeful the vanished jet would be found within the current search area, but he added that the challenging hunt has “tested the limits of human engineering excellence and technical capacity, and it has been an historic effort.”

“We are searching in the right area, but the degree of difficulty is something we all need to understand,” the minister told reporters.

“We’re talking about searching sections of the ocean which are four to six kilometers deep, with canyons and ravines. It is an extremely difficult and complex search.”

The governments of Australia, Malaysia and China, where most of the passengers were from, this year agreed to pull the plug on the operation once the search area was fully scoured unless “credible new information” emerged. AFP </s> SYDNEY: Missing Malaysian Air flight MH370 appeared to be out of control when it plunged into the ocean, with the wing flaps not prepared for landing, a new report said yesterday.

The report by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau found the plane’s final satellite communications were “consistent with the aircraft being in a high and increasing rate of descent” when it vanished.

Analysis of the right outboard flap – which was found off Tanzania – showed it was “most likely in the retracted position at the time it separated from the wing”, suggesting the plane was not configured for landing before it smashed into the ocean.

The bureau noted that the width of the defined search area was appropriate “to encompass all uncontrolled descent scenarios from the simulations”.

“This report contains important new information on what we believe happened at the end of MH370’s flight,” Australia’s Transport Minister Darren Chester said at the start of a three-day meeting in Canberra where experts will plan the final stages of the search.

Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014 carrying 239 passengers and crew.

Despite a massive underwater hunt far off Western Australia’s coast, no trace of the jet has been found.

Investigators have however confirmed that three pieces of debris recovered along western Indian Ocean shorelines came from MH370.

More than 110,000 square kilometres of a 120,000-square-kilometre search arc have been scoured so far and the operation is due to wrap up in early 2017.

The findings of the ATSB’s new report, which analysed satellite data, end-of-flight simulations, recovered sections of the plane and debris drift modelling, confirm extensive testing by US manufacturer Boeing and the Australian defence department.

Experts at the meeting will “review all the available data and analysis associated with the search to date”, Chester said in a statement.

Their findings will “inform the remainder of the search effort, and develop guidance for any future search operations.” — AFP

“There are currently more than 20 items of debris of interest to the investigation team which have been located on the coasts of Africa, Madagascar, the island of Mauritius, Reunion and Rodrigues,” he added.

Ongoing drift analysis also suggested the search was in the right place, the ATSB said, noting it was “unlikely debris originated south of the current search area.

“The northernmost regions were also found to be less likely,” it added.

The governments of Australia, Malaysia and China, where most of the passengers were from, this year agreed to pull the plug on the operation once the search area was fully scoured unless “credible new information” emerged. – AFP </s> Hong Kong (CNN) Officials involved in the arduous search for Malayasia Airlines Flight 370 won't rule out another hunt for the plane if "credible" evidence emerges, Australia's transport minister said Wednesday.

"It's not a closed book by any stretch," Darren Chester said at a news briefing in Melbourne. "I don't rule out a future underwater search."

"It's a question of if you have credible new information, which leads to a specific location."

Australian, China and Malaysia announced the suspension of the the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 nearly three years after the plane vanished without a trace over the Indian Ocean.

Officials from those nations had been leading the search for MH370, which disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board. The countries on Tuesday issued a joint statement announcing the suspension.

"The decision to suspend the underwater search has not been taken lightly nor without sadness," the statement said. "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."

At the news conference, Chester was asked what "credible evidence" would be.

"We'll know it when we see it," he said.

He's hoping that new technologies, improved analysis of data, and better equipment would lead to solving what he calls an "extraordinary aviation mystery.

"I am hopeful we'll have a breakthrough in the future," he said. "It's reasonable to expect there may be more debris uncovered in the weeks and months and possibly even years ahead which could lead to further information in solving this puzzle."

Chester said the cost hadn't been the "deciding factor" in the decision to suspen.

"There's no question this has been a very costly exercise -- in the order of 200 million Australian dollars has been spent on the underwater search effort of which 60 million dollars has been provided by the Australian government, and the Malaysian government has contributed more than anyone else in that regard," he said.

"So it has been a costly exercise but it hasn't been the factor which has led to the decisions to suspend the search. We are in a position where we don't want to provide false hope to families and friends."

He stressed that there has been a "very limited amount of actual data that experts were dealing with."

"The fact that we haven't located the aircraft in the 120,000-squar-kilometer highest probability search area would indicate the aircraft is not in that area."

Greg Hood, chief commissioner for the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, told reporters that "residual search-related activity is continuing" until February.

He said the ATSB would continue to analyze satellite imagery for any signs of MH370 as well as any debris that may be linked to the missing plane.

Voice370, a support group for family members of those aboard the flight, released a statement expressing disappointment over the suspension.

"Commercial planes cannot just be allowed to disappear without a trace," the statement said.

"Stopping at this stage is nothing short of irresponsible, and betrays a shocking lack of faith in the data, tools and recommendations of an array of official experts assembled by the authorities themselves."

Steve Wang, whose mother was on board the flight, told CNN he was disappointed the search had ended with few, if any, answers.

"They said they are quite sure that they are searching the right place, but it seems that they are wrong," he said.

"I think it is their responsibility, not only for the 239 passengers on the plane, or for the next of kin like us, but also they have to give an answer to the whole world ... what really happened to MH370."

Chester said members of families he spoke to "in the last 24 hours" had been "very understanding of the decision that has been reached by the three governments" during their "emotional time."

"Some were aware that we were approaching the completion of the priority search area (and) they were very thankful to the ATSB and the experts and the searchers for the work they've done. They were very appreciative of the Australian government's effort and understood the decision."

By the numbers 26 -- Countries involved in search 151 -- Estimated cost of search in millions of U.S. dollars 239 -- Crew and passengers on MH370 1,046 -- Days MH370 missing when search ended 6,000 -- Meters deep in parts of the ocean searched 120,000 -- Square kilometers in final search area 4,600,000 -- Square kilometers in original search area Source: Joint Agency Coordination Centre

Multiple family members of those who were on the plane told CNN they received a text message from Malaysia Airlines informing them about a briefing in Beijing at 9 a.m. local time.

In a statement, the airline said it "stands guided" by the decision to suspend the search, which it described as a "thorough and comprehensive effort."

The company shares "in the sorrow" that the search was not successful, the statement said.

The plane's disappearance remains one of the greatest aviation mysteries in modern history.

Searchers spent millions of dollars scouring tens of thousands of square miles, but so far have yielded little new information about the plane's final moments.

In July last year, Australia, China and Malaysia agreed that if the aircraft was not located by the time 120,000 square kilometers (46,000 square miles) had been covered, the search would be suspended.

"The decision came not lightly," Chester said at the time. "But in the absence of new credible evidence it is not possible to continue searching. Every effort has been made. We have used the most high tech and the best people for this search."

The Tuesday statement said that vessel was not located in the 120,000 square kilometer search area.

What we do know

At 12:41 a.m. local time on March 8, 2014, MH370 departed Kuala Lumpur International Airport for Beijing. It was heading north but after its last message of "Good night Malaysian Three Seven Zero," it changed course toward the west, according to military radar.

From there, investigators believe it turned south around the edge of Indonesia and across the vast Indian Ocean.

Investigators confirmed in July that MH370 captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah had tracked a route deep into the Indian Ocean on his home flight simulator, very similar to the one officials believe the missing plane took.

Photos: Remembering the passengers of MH370 There is still no way to know for sure why Flight MH370 ended, but we are learning more about the lives of those on board. CNN is remembering them through snapshots shared with us. Hide Caption 1 of 12 Photos: Remembering the passengers of MH370 Rodney and Mary Burrows were looking forward to becoming first-time grandparents after their return home to Australia. Hide Caption 2 of 12 Photos: Remembering the passengers of MH370 Australians Catherine and Robert Lawton were traveling with friends on vacation when the flight disappeared. Hide Caption 3 of 12 Photos: Remembering the passengers of MH370 Paul Weeks was traveling to Mongolia for a new job as an engineer. His wife says Paul left behind his watch and his wedding ring before the trip, in case anything happened to him while he was away. Anderson spoke with Paul's brother & sister who said they are coping by spending time together as a family. Hide Caption 4 of 12 Photos: Remembering the passengers of MH370 Chandrika Sharma, left, was on Flight 370; her daughter Meghna and husband K.S. Narendran wait patiently, trying to manage their anxiety and longing for her return. Hide Caption 5 of 12 Photos: Remembering the passengers of MH370 Muktesh Mukherjee and Xiaomo Bai had been vacationing in Vietnam and were on their way home to their two young sons in Beijing. Hide Caption 6 of 12 Photos: Remembering the passengers of MH370 76-year-old Liu Rusheng, an accomplished calligrapher and one of the oldest passengers on the flight, was in Malaysia to attend an art exhibition with his wife. Hide Caption 7 of 12 Photos: Remembering the passengers of MH370 Teens Hadrien Wattrelos and Zhao Yan are shown in a photo on Wattrelos' Facebook page. The photo is captioned, simply, "I love you," in French. Hide Caption 8 of 12 Photos: Remembering the passengers of MH370 Firman Chandra Siregar, 24, studied electrical engineering in Indonesia and was on his way to Beijing on board Flight 370 to start a new job at an oil company. Hide Caption 9 of 12 Photos: Remembering the passengers of MH370 Patrick Francis Gomes, center, was the in-flight supervisor for the missing plane. His daughter describes him as a quiet person with a sense of humor. Hide Caption 10 of 12 Photos: Remembering the passengers of MH370 Ch'ng Mei Ling, a Malaysian citizen who lives in Pennsylvania, is a process engineer at a chemical company. Hide Caption 11 of 12 Photos: Remembering the passengers of MH370 We do not have photos of all 239 passengers, but we wanted to remember that there are loved ones around the world missing them right now. View CNN's complete coverage of Flight 370. Hide Caption 12 of 12

Grandparents, a newly graduated engineer, a young couple and a 2-year-old boy were among the hundreds of people on board MH370 when it vanished.

Most of the passengers and crew were from China and Malaysia, but individuals and families from 14 different countries were also on board the missing flight.

Theories

Based on some of the wreckage that's been found, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau determined the wing flaps had been stowed when MH370 crashed

The report suggested the plane had been out of control, spiraling downward at a rate of almost 300 miles per hour at its last satellite transmission.

These findings suggested "two early hypotheses," according to CNN aviation analyst Mary Schiavo; either that a fire on board the plane incapacitated everyone through smoke or fumes, or that a rapid decompression, perhaps because of a breach in a window, led to their deaths hours before the plane ran out of fuel and spiraled downward.

JUST WATCHED Search for flight MH370 suspended Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Search for flight MH370 suspended 02:43

But investigators still haven't been able to say for sure what caused the crash, and, unfortunately, according to O'Neill and Associates aviation expert Peter Goelz, the debris discovered has so far done little to enlighten authorities -- or the victims' families -- as to what exactly happened.

"All it tells us is what we suspected, in that the plane crashed somewhere in the South Indian Ocean," he told CNN in November. "At some time in the future there will be a quantum leap forward in the ability to look underneath the sea and someone will find it. But that's not for decades," Goelz said. "I think at some point, they'll find it -- it's too big a mystery. But the technology we have now, we can't do it easily or cheaply."

The high-detection devices exploring for MH-370 discovered two shipwrecks during the search -- one some 200 years old and another shipwreck also from the 1800s -- discoveries that give scientists hope that improved technology can one day detect the missing plane.

There's also the possibility that the search teams were looking in the wrong place , according to an Australian government report released in December.

The report recommended that, based on new analysis, a new area to the northeast of the current search area should be searched, approximately 25,000 square kilometers.

However, Australian Transport Minister Chester said the search would not be extended without new evidence.

What's been found

Multiple countries and companies have been involved in the extensive search, which has taken place along a defined arc in the Southern Indian Ocean, where the plane made its last satellite transmission.

Three pieces of the missing plane found off the coast of Africa have been confirmed as coming from MH370, using specific identification numbers.

Photos: MH370 debris Malaysia Airlines flight 370 disappeared on March 8, 2014. As of October 2016, authorities have definitively linked three pieces of debris to the plane, while four other pieces are believed to "almost certainly" come from the missing aircraft. A flaperon from a Boeing 777 was found on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean in July 2015. Authorities later confirmed the debris came from MH370. Hide Caption 1 of 7 Photos: MH370 debris Two pieces of debris were found in Mozambique, in December 2015 and February 2016. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said both pieces "almost certainly" came from the missing plane. Hide Caption 2 of 7 Photos: MH370 debris An examination of stenciling and other identifiable features were used to link the debris to MH370. Hide Caption 3 of 7 Photos: MH370 debris Two more pieces of debris, found in March 2016, were also deemed to have "almost certainly" come from MH370, according to the ATSB. Hide Caption 4 of 7 Photos: MH370 debris One piece is believed to be from the plane's Rolls Royce engine, while the other matched a Boeing 777 interior closet panel. Hide Caption 5 of 7 Photos: MH370 debris A piece of aircraft debris found in Tanzania in June 2016 and transported to Australia. The country's Infrastructure and Transport minister said it was confirmed as coming from MH370 in September 2016. Hide Caption 6 of 7 Photos: MH370 debris A left outboard flap trailing edge section found on the island of Mauritius in May 2016. In October , it was confirmed as coming from MH370. Hide Caption 7 of 7

The ATSB said six other pieces of wreckage found off the African coast were likely to have come from the missing plane, but this wasn't confirmed.

In total, 20 pieces of debris have been brought to the attention of the investigative team.

But those pieces of detritus have not given closure to those whose loved ones remain missing.

"The people who are living with you more than 20 years, and they leave suddenly," Wang said. "We just want them to give us more information. I think there (is) still something, we don't know." </s> SYDNEY (AP) - A new scan of the Indian Ocean floor for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has searched nearly 80,000 square kilometers (31,000 square miles) since January without finding any sign of the wreckage. But the company looking for the plane, which has been missing for more than four years, said it is still determined to find it.

This comes despite earlier hopes that a 25,000-square-kilometer (9,650-square-mile) area most likely to contain the missing aircraft had been identified.

Ocean Infinity, the American technology company conducting the latest search, said in an update Monday that it had scanned up to 1,300 square kilometers (500 square miles) per day since launching its mission far off the west coast of Australia in late January. It has searched both inside and outside an area identified by Australian authorities.

FILE - In this March 31, 2014 file photo, the shadow of a Royal New Zealand Air Force P3 Orion is seen on low level cloud while the aircraft searches for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean, near the coast of Western Australia. In an update released late Monday, April 30, 2018, Ocean Infinity, the American technology company conducting the search, said it had scanned up to 1,300 square kilometers per day since launching its mission in late January. The new scan of ocean floor hasn't found any sign of MH370. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith, File)

"Whilst it's disappointing there has been no sign of MH370 in the Australian Transport Safety Bureau search area and further north, there is still some search time remaining," Ocean Infinity chief executive officer Oliver Plunkett said in a statement.

"Everyone at Ocean Infinity remains absolutely determined for the remainder of the search," he said.

Flight 370 disappeared March 8, 2014, while en route from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing with 239 people aboard. No transmissions were received from the aircraft after its first 38 minutes of flight, but it is believed to have crashed in the far southern Indian Ocean based on the drift patterns of crash debris that washed ashore on distant beaches.

The governments of Malaysia, China and Australia called off the nearly three-year official search in January 2017. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau's final report on the search conceded authorities were no closer to knowing the reasons for the plane's disappearance or its exact location.

In January, the Malaysian government pledged to pay Texas-based Ocean Infinity up to $70 million if it could find the wreckage or black boxes of the aircraft within 90 days. Ocean Infinity uses up to eight autonomous vehicles capable of operating in depths up to 6,000 meters (19,685 feet), and Plunkett had launched the search by saying his company had "a realistic prospect" of finding the aircraft.

He said Monday that its technology had performed "exceptionally well," with "significant amounts of high quality data" collected.

The company's Seabed Constructor research vessel is stopping in the West Australian port of Fremantle for resupply and crew rotation before returning to the search until it's forced to quit in the southern hemisphere's winter.

Plunkett's statement indicated Ocean Infinity's search could be halted before mid-June due to weather conditions at sea. </s> A NEW scan of the Indian Ocean floor for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has been expanded after search vessels exhausted the main area where the doomed plane was believed to be resting.

Nearly 80,000 square kilometres have been search since January without finding any sign of the wreckage.

But the company looking for the plane said it is still determined to find it.

This comes despite earlier hopes that a 25,000-square-kilometre area most likely to contain the missing aircraft MH370 had been identified.

The search enters its final phase this week, more than four years after the jet went down.

Ocean Infinity, the American technology company conducting the latest search, said in an update that it had scanned up to 1,300 square kilometres per day since launching its mission far off the west coast of Australia in late January.

It has searched both inside and outside an area identified by Australian authorities and said that its lack of success had led it to look further north than the main search area.

“Whilst it’s disappointing there has been no sign of MH370 in the Australian Transport Safety Bureau search area and further north, there is still some search time remaining,” Ocean Infinity chief executive officer Oliver Plunkett said.

“Everyone at Ocean Infinity remains absolutely determined for the remainder of the search.

“As the team head in to port after another six weeks’ hard work, I am pleased to say our technology has performed exceptionally well throughout the search and that we have collected significant amounts of high quality data in which we have full confidence. The results from the highly challenging Broken Ridge feature are particularly impressive.”

The search vessel Seabed Constructor headed to Fremantle for resupply and crew rotation before resuming its search.

This will be the last phase of the search, before weather will make further scanning not worthwhile.

Flight 370 disappeared March 8, 2014, while en route from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing with 239 people aboard. No transmissions were received from the aircraft after its first 38 minutes of flight, but it is believed to have crashed in the far southern Indian Ocean based on the drift patterns of crash debris that washed ashore on distant beaches.

The governments of Malaysia, China and Australia called off the nearly three-year official search in January 2017. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau’s final report on the search conceded authorities were no closer to knowing the reasons for the plane’s disappearance or its exact location.

In January, the Malaysian government pledged to pay Texas-based Ocean Infinity up to $70 million if it could find the wreckage or black boxes of the aircraft within 90 days. Ocean Infinity uses up to eight autonomous vehicles capable of operating in depths up to 6,000 meters (19,685 feet), and Plunkett had launched the search by saying his company had “a realistic prospect” of finding the aircraft.

He said that its technology had performed “exceptionally well,” with “significant amounts of high quality data” collected.

The company’s Seabed Constructor research vessel is stopping in the West Australian port of Fremantle for resupply and crew rotation before returning to the search until it’s forced to quit in the southern hemisphere’s winter. Plunkett’s statement indicated Ocean Infinity’s search could be halted before mid-June due to weather conditions at sea.

WHY WAS THE SEARCH CALLED OFF?

The Sun reports, nearly a quarter-century after his slow-speed police chase in the SUV was televised live to captivated viewers around the world, the former grid great will land before the cameras aThe missing aircraft, which was carrying 239 passengers and crew, vanished on March 8, 2014 - with researchers saying they had been looking in the wrong place.

Despite experts never having found the body of any of its passengers, the hunt for MH370 was set to end after nearly three years.

On January 17, 2017, it was officially suspended by officials in Australia.

Only 33 pieces of wreckage were found during the hunt, which saw investigators searching the deep sea areas near to the suspected crash site in the Indian Ocean, and scanning the water from the air.

News the search teams had abandoned their mission saw a series of conspiracy theories resurface – so here are the key facts about the missing plane.

On the third anniversary of when MH370 went missing, the Australian government minister in charge of the suspended seabed search told victims’ families and friends at a church service that he remained hopeful that the plane would be found.

Darren Chester, minister for infrastructure and transport, said: “While to date we have been unsuccessful, we remain hopeful that at some stage in the future, there will be a breakthrough, the aircraft will be found, and we will be able to answer more of your questions.”

The Malaysian Government added: “We remain ever hopeful that we will be able to find the answers we seek when the credible evidence becomes available.”

On October 19, 2017, it was confirmed the Malaysian government was aiming to strike a deal with a US exploration firm to continue the search for the downed aircraft.

Proposals had been issued to Malaysia from US company Ocean Infinity, Dutch firm Fugro and a third unidentified company.

“Yes, we are negotiating with Ocean Infinity, but the agreement has not been finalised,” said Malaysia’s deputy transport minister Aziz Kaprawi.ain Thursday — this time from the Nevada prison he has called home for almost nine years after an armed-robbery conviction.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 was en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur carrying 239 people on board.

They included Chinese calligraphers, a couple on their way home to their young sons after a long-delayed honeymoon and a construction worker who hadn’t been home in a year.

The plane had recorded 7,525 take-offs and landings as well as 53,420 flight hours when it made its last journey.

The MH370 Boeing was seen for the last time on military radar at 2.14am, close to the south of Phuket island in the Strait of Malacca.

Before that, Malaysian authorities believe the last words heard from the plane, from either the pilot or co-pilot, was “Good night Malaysian three seven zero”.

Half an hour later, the airline lost contact with the plane. It had been due to land at around 6.30am.

Evidence from a military radar suggested the plane had suddenly changed course.

Dozens of rescue planes and ships moved their search efforts to the sea west of Malaysia before the country’s Prime Minister Najib Razak claimed MH370 had been deliberately diverted by someone on board.

He added that they believed it had continued flying for more than six hours after losing contact with air control.

In the end, the search spanned to almost three million square mile - which is 1.5 per cent of the earth’s surface.

A week after disappearing satellite images of possible debris appeared to suggest that the plane crashed in the Indian Ocean, south-west of Australia.

But the search for the black box in this area was abandoned after nothing was found.

Now it seems that the search took place in the wrong location.

An international investigation revealed that the search area needs to be extended to an untouched 25,000 kilometre square area in the southern Indian Ocean.

In April 2017, a report by Australia’s national science body CSIRO supported the theory that the plane’s wreckage was north of the original search area. The report used data and analysis from ocean testing of an actual Boeing 777 flaperon.

At the end of August 2017, a diplomat investigating the doomed flight was shot dead in Madagascar’s capital in what is being called an assassination.

American adventurer-detective Blaine Gibson, who has been gathering suspected MH370 debris as it washes up on Madagascar and Mozambique, said Mr Raza had been due to deliver new items to Malaysian investigators in Kuala Lumpur.

In early 2018, conspiracy theories were sparked when the search vessel hunting for missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 disappeared from radar for 80 hours.

It is still unclear what caused the Seabed Constructor ship to lose its tracking on January 31.

The company, Ocean Infinity, was offered in excess of £39.5million if it found the missing plane within 90 days.

They conducted an 80,000 square kilometre scan of where the plane was thought to have crashed but did not find any trace of it on the sea bed.

On July 29, 2015 — more than a year after the plane’s disappearance — debris was found by volunteers cleaning a beach in St Andre, Reunion.

A week later investigators confirmed the debris did belong to MH370, but it did not help to locate the plane as it had drifted in the water.

On October 7, 2017, it was announced that two wing flaps found in Mauritius came from the missing flight.

Some shocked relatives found it difficult to believe that this was genuinely debris from the plane.

They said they think their loved ones are still alive and are being held at “an undisclosed location for unknown reasons”.

In August 2017, Australia released satellite imagery which it said showed 12 objects which were probably man-made floating near the suspected crash site.

The images were captured by a French military satellite two weeks after MH370 vanished, but were never released to the public.

If correct the French photographs point to an impact site in part of the Indian Ocean which was not originally searched, supporting the CSIRO April report.

WHAT HAS DEBRIS FROM MH370 REVEALED?

The wing flaps showed that the plane was not in a landing position when it plunged into the ocean, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said.

If the pilot was planning a controlled ditching of the plane, the wing flaps would have been configured for landing.

As this was not the case, a report by the bureau concluded that the aircraft appeared to be “out of control” during its final journey.

Chief search operator Peter Foley said: “You can never be 100 per cent. We are very reluctant to express absolute certainty.

“You can draw your own conclusions as to whether that means someone was in control.”

If someone had been controlling the plane it could have glided much further than thought - meaning rescuers could have been searching the wrong area.

More than 20 bits of debris suspected or confirmed to be from MH370 have washed ashore on coastlines throughout the Indian Ocean.

However, a deep-sea sonar search for the main underwater wreckage found nothing.

WHAT ARE THE THEORIES ABOUT MH370?

Russian president Vladimir Putin was accused of being involved in the hijacking of MH370. by a US Science writer. Jeff Wise claimed Putin “spoofed” the plane’s navigation data so it could fly unnoticed into Baikonur Cosmodrome so he could “hurt the West”.

French ex-airline director Marc Dugain accused the US military of shooting down the plane because they feared it had been hijacked. A book called Flight MH370 – The Mystery also suggested that it had been shot down accidentally by US-Thai joint jet fighters during a military exercise and covered it up.

Malaysia police chief Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar suggested that the crash could have been suicide. He said that someone on-board could have taken out a large life insurance package before getting on the plane, so they could treat their family or pay back the money they owed.

Historian and writer Norman Davies suggested MH370 could have been remotely hacked and flown to a secret location as a result of sensitive material being carried aboard the jet.

Twitter users claim a terrifying voicemail sent to their phones could have links to missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, alien life and an impending Doomsday date.The creepy message features a robotic voice droning out to an automated message in NATO phonetic alphabet.

Australian amateur crash investigator Peter McMahon has claimed images from Google Earth show what he believes is the wreckage of the Malaysia Airlines plane.

He says it is located under the surface ten miles south of small islet Round Island - an area not included in the search operation by experts.

Images have emerged showing what could be the wreckage of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 and it’s covered in bullet holes, an expert has claimed.

The Google Earth pictures show what appears to be the outline of the plane, which vanished along with 239 passengers and crew, under the surface of waters just north of Mauritius.

WHAT DID THE FINAL REPORT SAY?

In October 2017, Australian investigators delivered their final report into MH370’s disappearance and the subsequent search.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) - the agency which co-ordinated the search has said the fact the plane has yet to be found is a “great tragedy”.

ATSB chief commissioner Greg Hood said: “I hope, however, that they can take some solace in the fact that we did all we could do to find answers.”

The report states that while the plane has yet to be found, the hugely expensive search, the most expensive in aviation history, has managed to rule out large areas of the Indian Ocean off the western coast of Australia.

The report said: “The underwater search has eliminated most of the high probability areas yielded by reconstructing the aircraft’s flight path and the debris drift studies conducted in the past 12 months have identified the most likely area with increasing precision.

Parts of his article originally appeared in The Sun and are republished here with permission.
New analysis by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau suggests that no-one was controlling Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 as it plunged into the southern Indian Ocean in 2014.