PM: Missing plane deliberately flown off course
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E-mail Xinhua, March 15, 2014
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Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak (C) is accompanied by other government officials as he addresses reporters at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport March 15, 2014. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn] |
The missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 was deliberately diverted from its scheduled path and communications switched off, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Saturday, but refused to classify it as a hijacking and insisted the investigators are still considering all possibilities.
The new information released confirmed that the aircraft was deviated from its original path deliberately and communication equipment was disabled intentionally. This confirms primary information collected by the Royal Malaysian Air Force on the aircraft, which vanished about an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
The authorities have also uncovered new data on the possible flight path of MH370 that point to two new corridors. A northern corridor stretching approximately from the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to northern Thailand as well as a second southern one estimated from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean.
"In view of the latest development the Malaysian authorities have refocused their investigation into the crew and passengers on board. Despite media reports that the plane was hijacked, I wish to be very clear: we are investigating all possibilities as to what caused MH370 to deviate from its original flight path," Najib told reporters.
Based on new satellite information, Malaysian authorities have a "high degree of certainty" that the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) was disabled just before the aircraft reached the east coast of peninsula Malaysia. Shortly afterwards, near the border between Malaysia and Vietnam air traffic control, the transponder was switched off.
"From this point onwards Malaysian Air Force primary radar showed that an aircraft which was believed but not confirmed to be MH370 did indeed turn back. It then flew in a westerly direction back over the Malaysian peninsula before turning northwest. After that it left military radar coverage," Najib added. "These movements are consistent with deliberate action by someone on the plane."
The investigation team will now make further calculations, which will indicate how far the aircraft may have flown after it last made contact with the satellite at 8.11 a.m. Malaysian time on Saturday. This is expected to assist in refining the search.
The Malaysian government will now end its search operations in the South China Sea and reassess the redeployment of its resources. As many as ten countries that are engaged in the search will be requested by Malaysia to share their information including radar data.
The Malaysian government has organized a briefing for embassy officials of the countries that span the two new corridors earmarked for examining and the Malaysian Foreign Ministry will also brief all relevant governments as well, he assured.
The latest refining of search operations came eight days after the disappearance of MH370 with 239 passengers and crew members on board.
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