On March 8, 2014, Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 began its routine red-eye from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew on board. Shortly after takeoff, the plane disappeared from radar screens, and no one in charge could explain why. Nine years later, the event is still a disturbing, unresolved mystery, and the three-part speculative docuseries MH370: The Plane That Disappeared brings together a global community of family members, scientists and investigative journalists, all of whom continue to search for answers.
When Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 disappeared in 2014, it plunged the passengers’ next of kin into a waking nightmare. Episode 1 of MH370: The Plane That Disappeared takes a close look into the first few hours and days following the plane’s disappearance, including what happened when conspiracy theories and false accusations started to spiral out of control.
Further complicating the story of the disappearance of MH370 was what happened later. In July of that same year, Malaysian Airlines lost another aircraft when MH17 was shot down by a Russian missile. It was recently confirmed by an international team of investigators that there were “strong indications” that it was approved by Russian heads of state, which Russia has denied. In Episode 2 of MH370: The Plane That Disappeared, experts discuss how the chances of two aircraft from the same airline crashing in such a short time frame are infinitesimal, causing the conspiracy theories to go even further.
As Episode 3 of MH370: The Plane That Disappears explores, the answer to that question is just as complicated as the mystery itself. After 16 months of fruitless searching, a large section of a plane wing washed up on the shore off the East African Coast. Experts and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak confirmed the wreckage was from MH370, but some journalists and family members are skeptical for reasons explored in the docuseries. In the meantime, they’re still searching for answers.
Jeff Wise, science journalist and author of The Plane That Wasn’t There: Why We Haven’t Found MH370, is featured in the docuseries along with reporter and foreign correspondent Florence de Changy. Many of the victims’ next of kin including families from China, Malaysia, Australia and France are interviewed. Says director Louise Malkinson, “[The families] want people to keep talking about this. The families want a platform to be able to say, ‘Come on, it’s been nine years.’ They were all united on that.”
Authorities officially ended the search for MH370 in 2017, but many independent investigators and aviation experts are still looking for answers. Says journalist Jeff Wise, as long as the plane is not found, “the entire aviation industry has an asterisk next to it.” Read more about why he believes it's important to keep looking for MH370.
All three parts of MH370: The Plane That Disappeared will be available to stream March 8.
Get a sense of the horrifying event that unfolded in the trailer above.
