What Happened To Flight MH370? Plane Went Into ‘Spiral Dive’ Before Crash, Previously Secret Data Says

New information about what may have happened to missing Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 was released Tuesday in an independent analysis. A team of aviation and mathematical experts concluded in the analysis that the aircraft was in a “spiral dive” in the moments just before it crashed into the ocean and that there was likely nobody in control of the plane.

The findings by the Independent Group confirmed the Australian Transport Safety Bureau’s conclusion about the plane’s final moments. In the wake of the plane’s disappearance, skeptics emerged with theories that the plane had been piloted by someone and landed on the ocean.

Read: MH370 Plane Wreckage Search Area Narrowed Down

The analysis was based on data that was previously secret and unreleased.

“Considering that the newly available data generally support the conclusions of the official investigators, it remains a mystery as to why Malaysia withheld the data for so long and why it chose to release the data at this time,” said Victor Iannello if the Independent Group, according to the West Australian.

The data included information transmitted by a satellite link on the plane’s previous flight, MH371.

“Using the satellite data from MH371, we have a higher level of confidence that for MH 370 the aircraft was in an increasingly steep descent at its final log on,” said Iannello.

The Boeing 777 disappeared in March 2014 on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers on board. Only a few pieces of the airliner were ever recovered despite authorities searching more than 46,000 square miles. A fragment of the plane’s wing was found on Reunion Island off the coast of Africa in 2015.

The search, led by Australia, was officially called off by Malaysian authorities in January 2017.

New information released in April, however, purported to discover a new area in the Indian Ocean that should be searched. Researchers at Australia’s national science agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) said in a blog post they had narrowed down the search area for the plane using a technique called “drift testing research.”

“Our final recommendation is way more precise than I dreamed we would be able to achieve,” Dr. David Griffin, team leader of the study, said in the blog post. “It is causing a lot of grief for the families of the 239 people on the flight and it has captured the imagination, perhaps ghoulish curiosity, we have for these disasters.”

Read: Plane Disappears Over Bermuda Triangle, Leaving 2 Adults And 2 Toddlers Missing

Others, however, were skeptical of the claims. Australia’s transport safety minister Darren Chester said the findings were not sufficient enough to mount a new search for the aircraft.

“The decision to suspend the underwater search has not been taken lightly nor without sadness,” Chester said in a press release. “Whilst combined scientific studies have continued to refine areas of probability, to date no new information has been discovered to determine the specific location of the aircraft.”