A RENEWED deep-sea hunt for missing flight MH370 has failed to find any trace of the doomed jet 12 years after it vanished.
Search teams spent nearly a month combing thousands of square miles of the Indian Ocean in a last-ditch £50million mission to finally locate the wreckage.
But investigators have now confirmed the massive search effort has come up empty.
The Boeing 777 disappeared from radar shortly after departing Kuala Lumpur International Airport for Beijing on March 8, 2014, carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew.
In a statement, Malaysia’s Air Accident Investigation Bureau said 28 days of searching covering more than 2,900 square miles (7,500 sq km) had produced no new findings.
The hunt was carried out by marine exploration firm Ocean Infinity, which was allowed to scour the remote seabed on a dramatic “no find, no fee” deal.
Under the agreement, the company would only receive $70million (£52m) if it successfully located the wreckage of the jet.
Despite the latest disappointment, Malaysian officials said they “remain committed to keeping the families informed and will continue to provide updates as appropriate”.
The search mission – carried out in two phases – was repeatedly disrupted by poor weather and rough seas before finally concluding on January 23.
Now families of those on board fear the hunt could stall once again.
Campaign group Voice370, which represents relatives of passengers and crew, has urged the Malaysian government to extend the contract with Ocean Infinity.
They warned a new phase of searching could be delayed until June, when the current deal expires, because winter is approaching in the southern hemisphere.
Voice370 said: “A simple addendum extending the contract period without altering the core terms of the agreement would allow the search to continue without delay.”
The group also called for other exploration companies to be allowed to search the seabed on the same “no find, no fee” basis.
The latest mission has been billed as the final realistic chance to solve the mystery of MH370.
Ocean Infinity deployed its high-tech mothership Armada 7806 to a newly identified priority zone around 1,200 miles off Perth, Australia.
The vessel used state-of-the-art autonomous underwater vehicles and high-resolution sonar to systematically scan the seabed.
MH370 vanished without issuing a distress signal, sparking the largest search in aviation history.
Two previous major hunts – including a multinational mission covering 120,000 square kilometres of ocean floor and a separate Ocean Infinity search in 2018 – both ended without success.
In the years since the disappearance, just 33 pieces of debris confirmed or believed to be from the aircraft have been recovered.
Fragments have washed up on shores thousands of miles away in La Reunion, Mauritius, Madagascar, Tanzania and South Africa.
Another suspected piece – believed to be part of a wing spoiler – was discovered in Port Elizabeth in 2021.
Experts say ocean currents likely carried the debris across the Indian Ocean from a crash site believed to lie west of Australia.
Analysis of wreckage suggests the plane may have plunged into the sea in an uncontrolled “ghost dive”, with one piece indicating a wing spoiler was ripped off during the impact.
A 2018 investigation by Malaysian authorities failed to determine what caused the jet to vanish, but concluded the aircraft had been manually turned around mid-flight.
Investigators did not rule out “unlawful interference by a third party”, though they dismissed theories that the pilot deliberately crashed the aircraft.
Mechanical failure was also ruled out.
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Seven bombshell theories behind MH370 disappearance
AS the hunt for missing flight MH370 resumes, theories about what happened to the doomed plane are emerging once again.
Here are some of the wildest and unfounded takes about what happened to MH370…
US shot down plane
Investigative journalist Florence de Changy claims in her book The Disappearing Act: The Impossible Case of MH370, that the plane was shot down by the US Air Force in a bid to stop secret tech reaching China.
De Changy claims the US tried to intercept the plane by using technology to jam the signal.
She branded it “the biggest cover-up in recent times”.
Pilot’s ‘death dive’
It has also been alleged that the plane’s pilot, Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, may have steered the jet to its doom.
According to a life-long friend of Shah, who is also a pilot, his mental state was worsening by the day and could have impacted his decision to down the jet.
The unnamed pilot said it would have been easy to divert co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid, 27, out of the cockpit and then lock the door.
The theory claims Shah may have slowly suffocated his passengers by depressurising the plane before crashing into the sea.
UFO abduction
One of the more wild theories suggests the plane could have been abducted by a UFO.
A video went viral online showing an unidentified object following a plane.
Amateur sleuths became adamant the jet in the bizarre clip was MH370 and that it had been kidnapped by aliens.
Hijacking fears
Several theories about a possible hijacking, either on board or remotely, have also swirled for years.
One conspiracy theory suggests MH370 could have been hijacked by a stowaway.
Investigators did discover a “mysterious 14st load” added to the flight list after take-off, according to an engineer.
Foreign sabotage
A bizarre theory has suggested that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un was behind the jet’s fate.
Another conspiracy theory tables that the disappearance was at the hands of Russia with aviation expert Jeff Wise believing the Kremlin had means and motive.
In his 2015 book The Plane Wasn’t There, Wise argued that Russia is one of few countries with the tech to carry out such an attack.
