KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, 24 March 2014. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced today that the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 on a Boeing 777 passenger jet went down in the southern Indian Ocean.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak read the following prepared statement:
“This evening I was briefed by representatives from the U.K. Air Accident investigation branch, or AAIB. They inform me that Inmarsat, the U.K. company that provided the satellite data which indicated 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.
Searchers have made dramatic progress in where they think the plane might be in the last several days. But it’s not clear what took so long.
They have been able to shed more light on MH370’s flight path. Based on their 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 newest development at 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 has already spoken to the family 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 hard as well.
I urge the media to respect their privacy and allow them the space they need at this very difficult time.”
Malaysia Airlines image courtesy Shutterstock.
