An Australian fisherman's broken net could be the clue that finally unravels the mystery of what happened to 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 elusive despite the most extensive sea search in world history.
Now, nine years after the plane's disappearance, retired Australian fisherman Kit Olver, 77, has come forward to reveal that his deep-sea trawler scooped up 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 come forward to reveal his deep-sea trawler scooped up a commercial airline wing about 55 kilometers off the southeast coast of South Australia in September or October 2014.
Mr. Olver told the Sydney Morning Herald that he was fishing in his secret spot in search of the prized alfonsino fish when his net got snagged on something large, which it struggled to bring to the surface.
“It was a bloody big wing of a big jet plane,” he told the newspaper.
“I've been questioning myself; I've been looking for a way out of this.
“I wish I'd never seen the thing… but there it is. It was the wing of a fighter jet.”
Since he had a pilot's license, he was confident the wing was larger than a typical private plane.
The only other surviving member of the crew of the trawler Vivienne Jane, George Currie, also confirmed Mr Olver's claim to the newspaper.
'It was incredibly hard and uncomfortable. He stretched out the net and tore it. It was too big to be on the deck,” Mr Currie said.
'As soon as I saw it, I knew what it was. It was clearly a wing, or a large portion of it, from a commercial airliner. It was white, and clearly not from a military jet or small aircraft.”
Mr. Olver points to the location where he cut his fishing net after it pulled up a large airplane wing that his crew could not untangle
After struggling all day to free the object, Mr. Olver ordered his crew to cut loose the $20,000 net and let it float back to the relatively shallow depths of that part of the Southern Ocean.
Mr. Olver told the Sydney Morning Herald's Tony Wright he was able to locate the site, which was about 55km west of the South Australian town of Robe, and shared the GPS coordinates.
He says he tried to tell authorities about his find shortly after returning to port by calling the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA). A few hours after he called, he was contacted by an official who told him the find was likely a shipping container that had fallen from a Russian ship near Robe.
The AMSA told the Sydney Morning Herald they had no record of Mr Olver's call.
Mr Olver believed it was right to make his find public if it can help the families of those on board MH370 finally know the fate of their loved ones.
Earlier this year, families of those on board MH370 called on the Malaysian government to allow the US seabed research company Ocean Infinity to launch a new search for the missing plane.
The fate of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370, which was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members when it disappeared in 2014, remains an enduring mystery
In 2018, Malaysia engaged Ocean Infinity to search for the plane in the southern Indian Ocean, offering to pay up to $70 million if it found the plane. But its effectiveness fell short.
The company's search came after Malaysia, China and Australia ended a fruitless two-year underwater hunt worth A$200 million ($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 – urged the Malaysian government to accept all of the company's proposals on a conditional fee basis, so that the company would only be paid if it were successful.
“Ocean Infinity has made real progress over the past twelve months, working with many people to better understand the events of 2014,” Voice370 said in a statement, following a commemorative event marking the ninth year since the disappearance of MH370.
“Ultimately, this greatly increased their chances of a successful search.”