#MH370 A deliberate act... (hijacked?)

A deliberate act... (hijacked?)

The key points from Prime Minister's statement on the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370:

1. New data shows last confirmed location was Saturday, 8 March at 8.11AM which indicate how far the plane has flown.

2. Based on new satellite communication data, we can say with a high degree of certainty that the Aircraft Communications, Addressing and Reporting System or ACARS, was disabled just before the aircraft reached the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia.

3. Shortly aftewards, near the border between Malaysia and Vietnamese air traffic control, the aircraft transponder was switched off.

4. From this point onwards, the Royal Malaysian Air Force’s primary radar showed that an aircraft, believed to be (but not confirmed to be) MH370, did indeed turn back.

5. It then flew back over Peninsular Malaysia, before turning northwest into the Straits of Malacca, up until the point at which it left military primary radar coverage.

6. The PM also said that plane movement was consistent with "deliberate action" by someone on the plane.

7. There will be refocused investigation into the crew and passengers on board.

8. Despite news reports that investigators concluded it was a hijacking, PM Najib said "I wish to be very clear we are still investigating all possibilities as to what caused MH370 to deviate from its original flight path." Hijacking is not ruled out, however.

9. Based on the direction in which the plane flew, the plane could have headed in one of two possible corridors:

- Northern corridor: border of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan to Northern Thailand. 

- Southern corridor: From Indonesia to Southern Indian Ocean.

9. Operations in the South China Sea will be ended and deployment of assets will be reassessed.

10. Malaysia Airlines is informing families of the passengers of the new developments.

11. "The search has entered a new phase... We hope this new information will bring us one step closer to finding the plane."

As to who and why, there was still no answer.

Earlier, the Associated Press (AP) said a Malaysian investigation has concluded that one or more people with flying experience switched off communications devices and deliberately steered the airliner off-course.

The official called the disappearance a hijacking, though he said no motive has been established and no demands have been made known. It's not yet clear where the plane ended up, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.

The official said a deliberate takeover of the plane was no longer a theory. "It is conclusive," he said, indicating that investigators were ruling out mechanical failure or pilot error in the disappearance.

He said evidence that led to the conclusion were signs that the plane's communications were switched off deliberately, data about the flight path and indications the plane was steered in a way to avoid detection by radar.

The Boeing 777's communication with the ground was severed just under one hour into a Malaysia Airlines flight March 8 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Malaysian officials previously have said radar data suggest it may have turned back toward and crossed over the Malaysian peninsula after setting out on a northeastern path toward the Chinese capital.

Earlier, an American official told The Associated Press that investigators are examining the possibility of "human intervention" in the plane's disappearance, adding it may have been "an act of piracy."

While other theories are still being examined, the U.S. official said key evidence suggesting human intervention is that contact with the Boeing 777's transponder stopped about a dozen minutes before a messaging system on the jet quit. Such a gap would be unlikely in the case of an in-flight catastrophe.

The Malaysian official said only a skilled aviator could navigate the plane the way it was flown after its last confirmed location over the South China Sea. The official said it had been established with a "more than 50 percent" degree of certainty that military radar had picked up the missing plane after it dropped off civilian radar.

Why anyone would want to do this is unclear. Malaysian authorities and others will be urgently investigating the backgrounds of the two pilots and 10 crew members, as well the 227 passengers on board.

Now that the search and rescue (SAR) operations in the South China Sea has been called off to censor the two new areas, more countries in the respective region are expected to give their cooperation to locate the plane.