AN EXCRUCIATING week after the mysterious flight MH370 went missing, Malaysia’s Prime Minister has confirmed “deliberate actions” are behind its disappearance.
Prime Minister Najib Razak has also revealed that the last communication with the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 — which was carrying 239 passengers — was at 8.11am last Saturday, seven hours later than originally thought.
Based on new satellite communication we can see, with a high degree of certainty, that the aircraft communications addressing reporting systems for data was disabled just before the aircraft reached the east coast of the peninsular of Malaysia,” he said last night.
“Shortly afterwards, near the border between Malaysia and Vietnamese air traffic control, the aircraft’s transponder was switched off.
“From this point onwards the Royal Malaysian Air Force’s primary radar data showed that an aircraft, which was believed but not confirmed to be MH370, did indeed turn back.”
The passenger jet then flew in a westerly direction back over Malaysia peninsular before turning north west.
“Up until the point at which it left military primary radar coverage these movements are consistent with deliberate actions by someone on the plane,” Mr Razak said.
“Based on raw satellite data, which was obtained by the satellite data service provider, we can confirm that the aircraft shown in the primary radar data was flight MH370.
“According to the new data the last confirmed communication between the plane and a satellite was at 8.11am Malaysian time on Saturday March 8.”
It is not yet known how much further the aircraft travelled after that last point of contact.
Mr Razak said it the plane’s precise location remained unclear but had been narrowed down to two areas — a northern corridor stretching approximately from border of Kazakhstan and Turkestan into northern Thailand and a southern corridor stretching approximately from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean.
The search and rescue operation will now shift from the South China Sea to these two areas as the search for MH370 enters a new phase.
In light of this incredible new information, authorities are continuing to investigate the crew and passengers on board.
There were reports late yesterday police had gone again to the home of the pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah. Shah lived in a gated community in the town of Shah Alam, outside of Kuala Lumpur.
Source: DailyTelegraph
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