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Malaysian PM: Diversion of missing airliner was a 'deliberate act' Malaysian PM: Diversion of missing airliner was a 'deliberate act'
(about 1 hour later)
The Malaysian prime minister says investigators now know that the missing Malaysian airliner’s communications were deliberately disabled and that it turned back from its flight to Beijing and flew across Malaysia.The Malaysian prime minister says investigators now know that the missing Malaysian airliner’s communications were deliberately disabled and that it turned back from its flight to Beijing and flew across Malaysia.
The search for the plane is now being extended across a vast area extending from Kazhakstan in central Asia to the southern Indian ocean, Najib Razak revealed in a dramatic press conference on Saturday. A newly extended, multinational search stretching all the way from Kazakhstan to the southern Indian Ocean was underway on Saturday after satellite data indicated missing flight MH370 last made contact six hours after previously believed.
After new satellite information became available, he said dozens of countries across the region would now become involved in the search for Kuala Lumpur-Beijing flight MH 370 which went missing a week ago with 239 crew and passengers on board. Speaking for the first time about the Boeing 777 with 239 people on board one week after it vanished from civilian radar, Najib Razak said authorities believed the plane’s diversion from its original flightpath towards Beijing to be the “deliberate action by someone on the plane”.
The new satellite information also revealed that the last communication with the plane was at 8.11am on Saturday March 8, much later than previously believed. Malaysian police said on Saturday morning that they were searching the home of the pilot of the missing plane.
He said the movements of the plane tracked until it left the coverage of military radar were consistent with “deliberate action” by someone on the plane who turned the jet back across Malaysia and onwards to the west. According to the raw satellite data, the aircraft last made contact at 8.11am local time on 8 March, nearly seven hours after it lost contact with air traffic control, although it is still unclear just how far the aircraft may have flown after this last point of contact.
A Malaysian official, speaking anonymously, had told AP that the authorities were convinced that the plane had been hijacked by experienced fliers who had disabled the communications and diverted the plane. Malaysia’s aviation authorities are working with their international counterparts to help determine where exactly the plane may now be, Najib said, who added it was likely to be in one of two possible flight corridors: a northern corridor stretching from northern Thailand to the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, and a southern corridor stretching from Indonesia out towards the southern Indian Ocean.
But Razak told the press conference in Kuala Lumpur: “Despite media reports the plane was hijacked, I wish to be very clear, we are still investigating all possibilities as to what caused MH370 to deviate,” Najib said. Najib plainly stated that, while media reports had circulated that the plane was hijacked while on route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, authorities were still investigating all possibilities but added: “In view of this latest development, the Malaysian authorities have refocused their investigation into the crew and passengers on board.”
The search operation in the South China Sea would be abandoned, Razak said, and the focus changed to two possible flight corridors based on the new information. About 14 countries, 43 ships and 58 aircrafts are taking part in search and rescue missions, from the South China Sea to the Malacca Straits, the Andaman Sea and the Indian Ocean. Saturday’s relevations, however, mean authorities will have to re-strategise the missions to include the many countries within those two corridors, Najib said.
The first stretches from Kazhakstan to north Thailand, while the second south corridor, stretching from Indonesia to southern Indian ocean. The new satellite data sheds considerable light on the mystery of the vanished jet after it was confirmed its two main communications systems — the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System and its transponder — were disabled within one hour of take-off, which erased the jet from civilian radar systems.
Military data had previously shown an “unidentified” aircraft out towards the Malacca Straits at 2.15am local time, an obvious diversion from where flight MH370 was last seen over the Gulf of Thailand between Malaysia and Vietnam. Najib confirmed was flight MH370.
“Today, based on raw satellite data which was obtained from the satellite data service provider, we can confirm that the aircraft shown in the primary radar data was flight MH370,” he said.
The US Federal Aviation Administration, the US National Transportation Safety Board, the UK’s Aviation Accidents Investigation Branch and Malaysian authorities had all come separately and independently to the same conclusion, he added.
The news is likely to fuel speculation over suspected terrorism although no person or group has come forward to disclose why the plane may have been hijacked, and it is still unclear what motives, if any, can explain the diversion away from China.