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No, missing Malaysian Flight 370 has not returned after 10 years
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March 8, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared off air traffic control radar. Later evidence signaled it likely crashed into the Indian Ocean.
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Despite an extensive three-year search, the plane has still not been recovered, but debris confirmed to be part of the plane has been found.
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The flight has not returned.
A decade after the Malaysian Flight 370 and its 239 passengers and crew members disappeared, rumors of the plane’s fate continue to spread online.
"Breaking News: Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 Returns After 10-Year Mystery, 239 Passengers’ Journey," read a June 28 Facebook post.
The post, which directs users to an article making the same claim, features ominous images of a plane, a flight path from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing, and dozens of corpses seated inside a plane cabin.
(Screenshot of Facebook Post)
This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
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This claim is false. Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared off air traffic control radar on March 8, 2014, still has not been recovered as of July 3, 2024. All 239 passengers and crew are presumed dead.
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On March 24, 2014, Malaysian Prime Minister Prime Minister Najib Razak announced that the flight had likely crashed in the Indian Ocean. In July 2015, a piece of the plane confirmed to be part of Flight 370 washed ashore in the western Indian Ocean, reported The Associated Press. More debris from the plane has since been found.
Several countries searched extensively for three years for the vessel, but officially stopped in 2017. A private U.S. company, Ocean Infinity, launched its own search in 2018 and this past March, Malaysian officials said they might renew the search for the plane.
However, the plane has been neither recovered nor "returned" intact. Online claims that the missing Malaysia Airlines flight has returned after 10 years are False.
Our Sources
Facebook post, (archived), June 28, 2024
Thysak, Breaking News: Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 Returns After 10-Year Mystery, 239 Passengers' Journey," (archived) June 28, 2024
CBS News, "Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 vanished 10 years ago today. What have we learned about what happened?," March 8, 2024
BBC News, "Flight MH370 'crashed in south Indian Ocean' - Malaysia PM," March 24, 2024
AP News, "MH370 disappeared a decade ago. Here's what we know about one of aviation's biggest mysteries," March 5, 2024
CNN, "Malaysia officially declares MH370 passengers and crew 'presumed dead'," Jan. 29, 2015
The Associated Press, "Statement by Malaysian PM Najib on Flight 370," March 24, 2024
BBC News, "MH370: The key pieces of debris found by the public," Jan. 23, 2017
CNN, "MH370: US firm prepares to launch ‘no find, no fee’ search," Jan 10. 2018
The Associated Press, "Malaysia may renew the search for MH370 a decade after the flight disappeared," March 4, 2024
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No, missing Malaysian Flight 370 has not returned after 10 years
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