One year ago today, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 vanished. There were once pings of hope — and then they were gone again.
The Malaysian Department Of Civil Aviation released an interim report Sunday detailing its investigation into the missing airplane, which was carrying 239 people when it presumably crashed into the south Indian Ocean.
While expired batteries may have made it more difficult to find the flight data recorder, the report revealed little else other than a normal flight, The Associated Press reports. The report is required by the International Aviation Organization within one year of a crash, Reuters reports.
There is still almost no information on what actually happened to the plane. Officials declared MH370 an accident and its occupants deceased in January. That allowed family members to collect insurance benefits, CNN reports.
But no wreckage or evidence of the plane has been found. Currently, experts are searching the deep ocean floors off the western coast of Australia. Teams have so far covered more than 9,000 square miles, CNN reports.
That’s like searching the entire state of Massachusetts — and it’s still less than half of the defined search area, which may not even be correct. Some theories say the plane actually went north towards China, as originally intended.
The wide area is because the Boeing 777 continued to fly for six hours after communication with it was lost, according to the Australian government. Beacons to help find the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder only lasted about the first 30 days.
“All the available data indicates the aircraft entered the sea close to a long but narrow arc of the southern Indian Ocean,” said the Australian Transport Safety Bureau on its website.
Surveying the relatively narrow strip of ocean won't be done until at least May, when winter begins in the southern hemisphere and makes search efforts even more difficult.
On March 31, 2014, the Australian government took over the lead of the search and recovery operation. Australia is paying half of the $93 million cost, according to the BBC. Malaysia is paying the other half.
Recently, Australian officials said they may scale back their efforts.
"I can't promise that the search will go on at this intensity forever but we will continue our very best efforts to resolve this mystery and provide some answers," said Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, according to the BBC.
With no physical evidence yet found, there are several alternate — or conspiratorial — theories about what happened to MH370:
The plane went north into Asia, perhaps to Russia or Pakistan
The plane was hijacked
The U.S. military shot it down, possibly as an accident during military exercise
The plane disappeared through some unknown force
In response to the Malaysian crash, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board has proposedfitting planes with data records that last 90 days, transmit data wirelessly and provide cockpit video.
Had the airplane been fitted with longer lasting, wireless beacons, flight MH370 might never have been a mystery.
Gavin Stern is a national digital producer with the Scripps National Desk.
