The Prime Minister of Malaysia has confirmed that Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 ended its journey in the Southern Indian Ocean.
He said that a British company analysed satellite data which made it clear beyond doubt that the plane crashed into the ocean.
A text message informing the families that they had lost their loved ones went out just before the Prime Minister’s statement.
It read: “We have to assume beyond reasonable doubt that MH370 has been lost and that none of those on board have survived. We must now accept all evidence suggests the plane went down in the southern Indian Ocean.”
The families of those aboard MH370 absorbed the news that their loved ones were not coming home.
The news they have been dreading for over two weeks.
Distraught beyond words, one woman screamed to waiting media: “”My son, my daughter-in-law and granddaughter were all on board. All three family members are gone. I am desperate!”
Others collapsed and had to be taken from a briefing on stretchers.
The news left many unanswered questions about what went wrong aboard MH370.
In Federal Parliament yesterday, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said that search planes had been sent to check on what satellite images suggested were two objects “possibly related to the search”.
Mr Abbott said the first object was grey or green and circular and the second was orange and rectangular.
He said HMAS Success was on the scene and attempting to locate and recover the objects.
The search will resume today.
The flight was carrying 239 people on board, including six Australians.
- Mary and Rodney Burrows from Brisbane
- Catherine and Robert Lawton from Brisbane
- Li Yuan and Gu Naijun from Sydney
- Paul Weeks, a father-of-two from New Zealand, living in Perth
The full statement from Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak on the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370:
“This evening I was briefed by representatives from the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch, or AAIB. They informed me that Inmarsat, the UK company that provided the satellite data which indicated the northern and southern corridors, has been performing further calculations on the data. Using a type of analysis never before used in an investigation of this sort, they have been able to shed more light on MH370’s flight path.
Based on the new analysis, Inmarsat and the AAIB have concluded that MH370 flew along the southern corridor and that its last position was in the middle of the Indian Ocean, west of Perth. This is a remote location far from any possible landing sites.
It is therefore with deep sadness and regret that I must inform you that, according to this new data, Flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean.
We will be holding a press conference tomorrow with further details. In the meantime, we wanted to inform you of this new development at the earliest opportunity. We share this information out of a commitment to openness and respect for the families, two principles which have guided this investigation. Malaysia Airlines have already spoken to the families of the passengers and crew to inform them of this development. For them, the past few weeks have been heartbreaking. I know this news must be harder still. I urge the media to respect their privacy and allow them the space they need at this very difficult time.”
Top Comments
Too sad...it is just too sad for words. My heart goes out to all those family members.
I think telling families via text message was completely inappropriate. I can understand that the information needed to be delivered quickly, but surely they could have gathered a team of staff and made personal phone calls. They weren't informing of a flight delay, they were telling people their loved ones had died!