Netflix has dropped a new docuseries that explores what it calls the “great modern mystery” of a commercial aircraft that vanished mid-flight. In March 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared from radar shortly after takeoff during a flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Beijing, China.
The plane deviated from its planned route and is thought to have crashed somewhere in the Indian Ocean. Now on the ninth anniversary of its disappearance, Netflix’s MH370: The Plane That Disappeared recalls the tragic event and explores some of the theories about what happened.
Officials have said that it will never be truly known what happened to Flight MH370 and its more than 200 passengers unless the plane’s black box flight recorder is recovered. But has MH370 or any debris from the plane ever been found?
Has MH370 or any debris from the plane ever been found?
The wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has never been found, despite a lengthy and costly search involving governments and private contractors. Between July 2015 and October 2017, 20 pieces of debris believed to be from MH370 had been recovered from beaches in the western Indian Ocean – on islands and on the coast of Africa.
The first item to be confirmed as originating from the plane was the right flaperon – a part of the aircraft’s wing. It was found in July 2015 washed up on the French island of Réunion in the western Indian Ocean, 2,500 miles west of the underwater search area.
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Officials announced in September 2015 that serial numbers found inside the flaperon confirmed it originated from MH370. Following the discovery, officials also found what was thought to be the remains of a suitcase in the same area, as well as a Chinese water bottle and an Indonesian cleaning product, which matched the nationalities of some of the plane’s passengers.
In February 2016, a piece of debris with a stencilled label reading “NO STEP” was discovered off the coast of Mozambique, Africa, around 1,200 miles southwest of where the flaperon had been found. After analysing the debris in Australia, officials identified it as “almost certainly” a piece of the right horizontal stabiliser panel from MH370.
Another piece of debris had previously been found washed up 190 miles away on a beach in southern Mozambique the previous December, but it was not initially reported. This item carried a stencilled code 676EB that matched the style used by Malaysia Airlines and was identified as part of a Boeing 777 flap track fairing – from the aircraft’s wing.
Experts deemed it as almost certainely part of MH370. Over the next several years, pieces of debris believed to be from MH370 were discovered washed up on the beaches of South Africa, Mauritius and Madagascar, as well as further discoveries in Réunion and Mozambique.
These items included a piece of an engine that had a partial logo of its manufacturer Rolls-Royce, and more fragments of the aircraft’s wings and tail. Pieces of the plane’s interior – including a stowage closet door – were also found, as well as several items that were unidentifiable.
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