An Australian fisherman's broken net could be the clue that finally solves the mystery surrounding the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.
The final resting place of the crashed plane, which disappeared on March 8, 2014 with 227 passengers and 12 crew on board, remains unknown despite the most extensive sea search in world history.
Now, nine years after the plane disappeared, retired Australian fisherman Kit Olver, 77, has revealed that his deep-sea trawler appeared to collapse the wing of a commercial airline about 55km off the southeast coast of South Australia, in the Southern Ocean, in September or October 2014.
Most authorities believe MH370 crashed in the southern Indian Ocean.
Retired fisherman Kit Olver, 77, has revealed his deep-sea trawler appeared to lift the wing of a commercial airline about 55km off the southeast coast of South Australia in September or October 2014
Mr. Olver points to the spot where he cut his fishing net after it pulled up a large airplane wing that his crew could not untangle
Mr Olver told the Sydney Morning Herald that he was searching for the prized Alfonsino fish species at his secret location when his net became caught on something large that it struggled to bring to the surface.
“It was a bloody big wing of a large airliner,” he told the newspaper.
“I questioned myself; I was looking for a way out.
“I wish to God I'd never seen that thing… but there it was. It was the wing of a jet.”
Because he held a pilot's license, he believed the wing was larger than any on a typical private aircraft.
The only other surviving member of the trawler Vivienne Jane's crew, George Currie, also confirmed Mr Olver's claim to the newspaper.
“It was incredibly difficult and awkward. It reached out and tore the net. “It was too big to put on the deck,” Mr Currie said.
“As soon as I saw it, I knew what it was. It was obviously a wing or a large part of it from an airliner. “It was white and obviously did not come from a military jet or small aircraft.”
After struggling all day to free the object, Mr. Olver ordered his crew to cut the $20,000 net free and let it drift back to the comparatively shallow depths of this part of the Southern Ocean.
Mr Olver told Tony Wright of the Sydney Morning Herald he was able to pinpoint the location, which is about 55km west of the South Australian town of Robe, and shared his GPS coordinates.
He says he tried to notify authorities of his discovery by calling the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) shortly after returning to port. A few hours after the call, he was contacted by an official who told him the discovery was likely a shipping container that had fallen from a Russian ship in the Robe area.
AMSA told the Sydney Morning Herald it had no record of Mr Olver's call.
Mr. Olver felt it was right to make his discovery public if it could help the families of those on board MH370 finally learn the fate of their loved ones.
Earlier this year, the families of passengers aboard MH370 called on the Malaysian government to allow American seabed exploration company Ocean Infinity to conduct a new search for the missing plane.
A reconstruction broadcast on National Geographic showed the jet crashing into the sea
A 2011 file photo of the doomed jet
Chinese relatives of passengers on the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 attend a prayer service at the Metro Park Hotel in Beijing, China, in 2014
The fate of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, which was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew, remains an enduring mystery after its disappearance in 2014
In 2018, Malaysia hired Ocean Infinity to search for the plane in the southern Indian Ocean and offered to pay up to $70 million if the plane was found. But the operation failed.
The company's search came after Malaysia, China and Australia unsuccessfully ended a two-year underwater hunt worth A$200 million (US$135.36 million) in January 2017 after no trace of the plane was found.
Voice370 – a group of relatives of those on board the plane – called on the Malaysian government to accept all of the company's proposals in exchange for conditional compensation so that the company would only be paid if it was successful.
“Ocean Infinity has made real progress over the last 12 months in working with many people to better understand the events of 2014,” Voice370 said in a statement following a commemoration of the ninth year since the disappearance of MH370.
“Ultimately, this significantly improved their chances of a successful search.”