Five hundred and fifteen days into the largest-scale search mission in human aviation history, the world on Thursday finally got hold of the first solid clue about the grueling mystery of the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
Following professional analysis at a specialized French laboratory, Malaysian authorities confirmed that the piece of debris found last week near La Reunion Island in the southern Indian Ocean indeed came from the vanished Boeing 777.
For the families of the 239 people on board the ill-fated aircraft, who have gone through 17 months of anguish and distress, the confirmation marked the beginning of a closure which they have prayed could be different.
There is probably still a long way to go before the plane can be located and the enigma unraveled, but China, which has 154 of its people aboard MH370, and the broader international community have never given up hope, and have pledged not to rest until they get to the bottom of the heartrending puzzle.
PAINSTAKING SEARCH
On March 8, 2014, MH370, a red-eye flight, vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, leaving little evidence behind.
China promptly activated the highest level of emergency response and poured a host of personnel and resources into a multinational search and rescue mission that quickly expanded to be the largest ever in human aviation history in terms of both scope and scale.
The search began in South China Sea, where the plane made its last voice contact with air traffic control at 1719 GMT March 7. "All right, good night!" said co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid. With more information emerging one piece after another, the focus was gradually shifted and the scope considerably widened.
On March 15, 2014, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said that the last confirmed signal between the plane and a satellite came at 0011 GMT March 8, and that it turned back and then flew westward back over the Malay Peninsula before turning northwest.
Analysis of satellite communications between the aircraft and Inmarsat's satellite concluded that the plane flew south into the southern Indian Ocean, although the precise location could not be determined.
Then the focus of the rummage shifted to the southern Indian Ocean southwest of the Australian city of Perth, and the searching vessels have been combing that remote patch of water ever since.
