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South African Airways Boeing 747-200BM. This aircraft crashed on Nov. 27, 1987. (Contributed photo/Wikipedia)

As the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 continues, investigators are looking back at another crash in the Indian Ocean for clues as to how best locate the missing jetliner.

On Nov. 27, 1987, South African Airways Flight 295 took off from Taipei to Johannesburg, South Africa with 159 people on board. A few hours into the flight, the crew radioed air traffic control they had a fire on board. As Business Insider relates, the Boeing 747 began an emergency descent but 19 minutes after the initial call, the plane plummeted into the Indian Ocean.

There were no survivors.

Even knowing the general region where the plane went down, searchers found it difficult to locate the wreckage. The Indian Ocean features some of the greatest depths on earth and Flight 295 came to rest at a depth of more than 15,000 feet, or about three miles below the surface.

Investigators trying to reach the scene had to use remotely operated vehicles that were connected to surface ships using special cables. The majority of the wreckage - including the flight data recorder - was never recovered. It took searchers more than two years to find the cockpit voice recorder which was located 16,100 feet down.

It was later determined the plane crashed after either the crew became incapacitated due to the fire or the blaze weakened the structure of the plane causing it to break apart.