After weeks of speculation, Malaysian Prime Minister, Najib Razak, has declared Malaysian Airlines flight, “ended in the Indian Ocean.” But without visual confirmation that debris found in the deep Indian Ocean is indeed the missing airliner, many still hold out hope that someone has jumped the gun. With an investigation that has been at times hopeful, more often the news has been devastating. The world has become impatient for news and the criticism in the Prime Minister’s decision to announce publicly that Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is, “gone forever” has been met with anger and distrust.
According to new and never used before data gathering sources, government officials are convinced that the plane did indeed go down March 8. After weeks of false leads, unknown objects determined not connected to the aircraft, and speculation, many insist they will not be convinced of the final outcome until any found parts are confirmed to be that of missing fight 370. The only actual confirmation are that objects, not yet determined as to what they are, have been spotted. The pieces are of significant size and considered by many experts to be too large to be normal ocean debris.
According to statistics, every year nearly a dozen cargo ships sink every year and a large number of them sink in the Indian Ocean due to its turbulent waters. Along with sinking ships, upwards of tens of thousands of cargo containers are lost at sea annually. The waters on the southern half of the earth is the most turbulent in the world. The area is very isolated and considered the deepest ocean in the world. The region is known to have waves in excess of 100 feet high on a regular basis. The objects spotted are nearly two thousand miles left of Australia in the most turbulent waters of the Indian Ocean. Investigators have been analyzing weather data and wave activity for the last three weeks to determine the search area and possible debris field.
As the Malaysian P.M. made his announcement, family members sat in silence patiently listening to every word in a very early morning press conference. Silence quickly broke into outbursts of cries and disbelief as loved ones have been left without substancial information for weeks. Many family members had to wait for an interpreter to confirm what was announced as the Prime Minister made his announcement in English. Some have even expressed concerns that the Prime Minister’s determination that Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has “ended in the Indian Ocean” is just another false declaration to deflect the poor communication from government officials.
News outlets worldwide have given an enormous amount of coverage to this traumatic story. Covering it non-stop in 24 hour news cycles, many officials have criticized the continuing coverage as the leading source of confusing information being fed to the public. A plane of this size and in this technology age has never vanished from the sky without any answers. World renowned aviation experts have made the rounds on just about every international news forum over the weeks, and even with their expertise they are just as dumbfounded as the rest of the world. But never with their knowledge of aviation has a single expert held out any hope that the missing Malaysia airlines flight would have a happy ending. Many have long come to the same conclusion that the Malaysian Prime Minister announced early this morning, that Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 did indeed end in the Indian Ocean.
Opinion by Kimberly Beller
The Houston Chronicle
