Mystery of MH370 to remain unsolved without new search for wreckage

Malaysian air safety authorities have declared more than four years after the disappearance of flight MH370 they do not know what caused the plane to crash into the southern Indian Ocean and won’t know unless the wreckage is found.

The view was shared by frustrated family members of Australians who died in the bewildering aviation tragedy. Irene Burrows, 89, whose son Rodney and daughter-in-law Mary were on the flight, said the mystery would stay unsolved “until such time as they find the plane and I’m sure it won’t be found in my lifetime”.

The official search ended last year and the latest, private hunt wrapped up in May, meaning Monday's Malaysian report is effectively the final word on the mystery that claimed 239 lives, including six Australians.

The investigation report released on Monday afternoon cleared the pilot and first officer, and said the plane itself was in good condition. That left the possibility of intervention by “a third party”, which the investigators did not rule out.

Chief investigator Kok Soo Chon told reporters in Kuala Lumpur that given the plane had been manually diverted and the communications systems turned off by hand, process of elimination meant someone else might have been responsible.

“We have examined the pilot, the flight officer. We are quite satisfied with their background, with their training, with their mental health, mental state. We are not of the opinion that it could have been an event committed by the pilot.

“But at the same time we cannot deny the fact that there was an air turnback. We cannot deny the fact that, as we have analysed, the systems were manually turned off with intent or otherwise.

“So we feel that there’s also one possibility that could account for all these … No matter what we do, we cannot exclude the possibility of a third person or third party or unlawful interference.”

A relative of passengers on board the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 reacts as she arrives for MH370 safety investigation report briefing at ministry of transportation in Putrajaya, Malaysia, Monday.Credit: AP

The Boeing 777 plane disappeared on the night of March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board, including six Australians.

While this was the comprehensive report by Malaysia, Dr Chon refused to call it the “final” report, saying that was impossible while the mystery remained unsolved.

“If the wreckage has not been found, if no victims have been found, how can we call our report the final report?” he said.

“There must be a conclusion … The council [of investigators] can only be conclusive if the wreckage is found.”

But the search has ended and there are no plans to resume it, given the significant cost.

Deputy Prime Minister and Transport Minister Michael McCormack said he understood that further answers could not be found without the wreckage.

“The Australian government appreciates that, having not located the missing aircraft, it is not possible to draw definitive conclusions about what happened to MH370,” he said.

“As such, I am aware this report does not provide the answers the family and friends of the 239 people on board were seeking.”

He said he had spoken to each of the Australian families and acknowledged the “sense of loss” they lived with every day.

International media reported that some family members were so angry they stormed out of a private briefing ahead of the official release of the report in Kuala Lumpur.

Mrs Burrows, from Queensland, said she felt Malaysian authorities had “fumbled the whole investigation from the start” with delays and confusion.

“It’s still hard. I wish every day they would find some answers but I’ve said for a long time now that I just don’t think that’s going to happen. They won’t know the answers until such time as they find the plane and I’m sure it won’t be found in my lifetime. I’m 89.

“It’s such a horrible part of the ocean down there. They looked but you couldn’t have picked a worse part of the ocean.”

But she remained hopeful that "someone will start searching again one day and find it".

The report concluded that several turns that took the plane off its path from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing and southwards on its long journey to the southern Indian Ocean were likely made manually, not by the autopilot.

The investigators did issue a criticism of air traffic controllers in Malaysia and Vietnam for not sounding the alarm immediately, meaning search and rescue operations were delayed.

Neither captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah nor first officer Fariq Abdul Hamid had shown recent changes in behaviour or personal problems, the report found.

There was no evidence either man was under financial or any other kind of stress.

Captain Shah’s much-discussed use of a flight simulator appeared to be purely for practice and indicated no malign intent.