WAMEGO, Kans. – The ongoing search for a jetliner that went missing three weeks ago has been moved again, this time to the small town of Wamego, Kansas. Investigators leading the hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 say that, after modifying the search zone several times and failing to uncover any trace of the plane, they are “getting frustrated,” but “strongly believe the mystery will be solved in Wamego.”
Wamego, home to a museum dedicated to The Wizard of Oz, is over 12,000 miles from the previous search zone—located in the Indian Ocean—but investigators say that, at this time, the town is their “best bet.”
“Can you tell me the plane is definitely not in Wamego?” asked Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein in a press conference Friday. Hussein declined to answer questions about why investigators now believe the plane may be in Wamego, but hinted that desperation may be the motivation. “At this point, it’s a good a place to search as any other, okay?”
Flight MH370 went missing on March 8th during a trip from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing while carrying 239 people. Officials say that radar and GPS information about its path is scant and inadequate to accurately locate its presumed crash site. Since the plane vanished, teams have scoured thousands of square miles of ocean searching for wreckage, but thus far no indication of the plane’s location has been uncovered.
On Friday, aerial teams began searching wheat and maize fields around Wamego, while ground crews canvassed in town, including along Road to Oz Highway.
“Nothing yet,” reported search team member Andy Jarrett. “I can’t say that the plane was never
here, but I’m thinking it’s not in Kansas anymore.”
Officials estimate that the Wamego search will last another day or two. “After that, we think Larvik, Norway looks promising, or perhaps Easter Island,” said civil aviation chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman. “It’s gotta be somewhere, am I right?”