New details about the possible crash site of MH370 have come to light this week, as experts point to a small area in the Indian Ocean.
While investigators were originally looking at an area off the coast of Western Australia, having found a small towel with Malaysian Airlines packaging 2015, their sights are now set on an area closer to Africa.
According to ABC News, at the time of the crash, the plane would have activated one of five possible autopilot control modes, each meaning the plane would’ve been lead in a different direction.
Now, investigators are using these five different control modes as a springboard for new calculations about the crash zone.
The results point at locations further south, roughly 36-39 degrees, and further north, between 33-34 degrees.
As per ABC, ocean currents were running in an easterly direction immediately after the crash, so it should’ve been expected that some form of debris would arrive on Australian shores.
The revelations come just days before a US-led salvage operation is set to begin which promises “no find, no fee”.
The Malaysian government is said to be funding the mission, paying somewhere between $20 – $70 million to the company.
In October of last year, the US company Ocean Infinity offered to assist in the hunt for the missing plane.
“The terms of the offer are confidential, but I can confirm that Ocean Infinity have offered to take on the economic risk of a renewed search,” company spokesman Mark Antelme said at the time.
“We’re in a constructive dialogue with the relevant authorities and are hopeful that the offer will be accepted.’’
MH370 originally went missing 8 March 2014 with 239 people on board, while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.The Australian lead search was called off in January of last year.
The new search site brings new hope to victims’ families, with David Griffin, an Australian oceanographer at the CSIRO, calling the site “the only option”.
“The oceanographic reason for why 35 [degrees south] is more likely than say 34, or 33, or 32, is that at all those latitudes the current is going to the east,” Griffin told the ABC.
“So if the crash had been in any of those latitudes then there’d be a high chance of at least one or two things turning up in Australia. Whereas there’ve been 20 or 30 or so items turned up in Africa, and not a single one come to Australia.
“Once you start looking in the vicinity of 36 to 32, then 35 is the only option.”
