Exactly nine years ago today, on March 8, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared without a trace while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The plane's disappearance sparked an unprecedented global search into one of the great mysteries of the modern age.

With today being the ninth anniversary of the plane disappearing from the radar, we will look at the countless theories and the latest news about what is happening. Following the disappearance of the aircraft, Malaysia, China, and Australia searched for the plane for three years without finding a trace of the wreckage. They gave up looking in 2017, and now the families of those who went missing on the flight are urging the Malaysian government to reopen the investigation.

In 2018 Austin, Texas-based robotics firm Ocean Infinity searched the seabed in the Indian Ocean and found nothing. Recently they said they have new evidence that might lead them to the missing plane. When speaking to the Guardian newspaper about it, chief executive of Ocean Infinity Oliver Plunkett said:

"At this stage, we are unable to say definitively when a new search will take place as discussions are ongoing, and there is still much work to be done. We are hopeful that our experienced team and marine robotics will be instructed later this year or in 2024."

To mark the ninth anniversary, American media company and heavyweight in the world of streaming entertainment Netflix is releasing a three-part series on March 8, 2023. The miniseries will look at the three main theories investigators believe could be the reason for the aircraft's disappearance:

1. The plane's pilot planned to kill himself and all the passengers.
2. Russian intelligence officers hijacked the aircraft.
3. The American military jammed the aircraft electronics leaving it to go off course and crash into the sea. The speculation behind the theory was that the aircraft was carrying stolen secret surveillance technology to China.

Not knowing what happened to the plane has even had people saying it was struck by a meteorite, while the real nuts say aliens abducted the plane and the people aboard it.

In the documentary, Netflix dismisses theories one and two as it would have required rival nations to cooperate to cover up what happened. The documentary maker Louise Malkinson who spent two years researching the story, says she thought she would discover what happened. When speaking with the Independent about it, Malkinson said:

"When I first started this, I thought that eventually, I would be able to say, this is what I think happened to the plane, but I can't. I think the probability is that the plane is in the South Indian Ocean somewhere, but how and why it ended up there, I don't know."

On March 8, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 departed Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KUL) at 01:19 local time for the just over six-hour flight to Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) in China. The aircraft used for the flight was a 12-year-old Boeing 777-200ER registered 9M-MRO.

In command of the flight was 53-year-old Captain Zaharie, an experienced senior officer with 18,365 flight hours. Assisting the captain was 27-year-old First Officer Fariq Abdul Hamid, who had 2,763 flight hours. Also, aboard the plane were ten flight attendants and 227 mostly Chinese passengers.

Following its takeoff from Runway 32R, the aircraft climbed into the night sky, turning northeast towards the South China Sea. When the plane reached its cruising altitude of 35,000 feet, they radioed Kuala Lumpur air traffic control (ATC) to inform them. As the aircraft was about to leave Malaysian airspace and enter Vietnamese jurisdiction, the Malaysian ATC radioed the plane to say "good night" before Ho Chi Minh controllers took over. Captain Zaharie replied, saying: "Good night, Malaysian three-seven-zero."

As the plane entered Vietnamese airspace, it disappeared from the radar, and its transponder stopped working.

Sources: Independent and the Guardian.

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  Malaysia Airlines

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  MH/MAS

  Airline Type:

  Full Service Carrier

  Hub(s):

  Kuala Lumpur International Airport

  Year Founded:

  May 1st, 1947

  Alliance:

  oneworld

  CEO:

  Izham Ismail

  Country:

  Malaysia