Malaysia has promised it will release the long-awaited full and final report on the findings into the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 on July 30, 2018. The hunt for the missing aircraft officially ended in May 2018 without any significant results, marking the end of the four year-long multi-national investigation into the disappearance of the Boeing 777 jetliner. Will this upcoming report bring forth anything new?
On May 29, 2018, the Malaysian government called off a privately-funded underwater search for the missing aircraft by the U.S.-based company Ocean Infinity. Its search vessel, the Seabed Constructor, had been scouring the southern Indian Ocean since January 2018, covering 43,243 square miles (112,000 square km) within three months.
Infinity failed to identify any significant findings. It was the second major search for the aircraft after Australia, China and Malaysia ended their fruitless $147.06 million search across an area of 46,332 square miles (120,000 square km) in 2017.
Upon terminating the contract with Ocean Infinity, Malaysia‘s Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook confirmed that the government would publish a full report on the investigation, but did not determine a date for the report’s release. Just a week ago, on July 20, 2018, the minister finally announced the date for the release, which is to be July 30, 2018.
Malaysia promises there will be no redactions in the MH370 report. “Every word recorded by the investigation team will be tabled in this report,” Anthony Loke told reporters on July 20, 2018. “We are committed to the transparency of this report. It will be tabled fully, without any editing, additions, or redactions,” he was quoted as saying by Reuters .
According to Loke, the investigation team would brief families of those aboard on the report at the Transport Ministry. The closed-door briefing will be followed by a news conference and the report published online, with hard copies distributed to families and accredited media, among others. “The whole international community will have access to the report,” he assured.
The report has been written by the investigation team assembled under Annex 13 of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Besides the analysis used to determine the search areas for the aircraft, the Annex 13 investigation could look into possible causes of the accident.
The investigation team involves representatives from seven international air crash investigation organizations from Australia, China, France, Indonesia, Singapore, the UK and the US, Airline Ratings News informs.
A group representing the relatives of those onboard MH370, known as Voice 370, has previously urged the Malaysian government for a review of the flight, including “any possible falsification or elimination of records” related to the Boeing 777 and its maintenance.
Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has said the government would consider resuming the search if new findings came to light, Reuters reports.