Updated 11.07 pm
THE MALAYSIAN PRIME Minister says that new satellite analysis has shown that flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean west of Perth.
Speaking at a new conference in Kuala Lumpar this afternoon after meeting with families of those on board, Najib Razak says that the conclusion comes as a result of data analysed by the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch and satellite firm Inmarsat.
The data shows that the flight flew along the southern corridor and ended in a remote location in the Indian Ocean west of Perth.
“This is a remote location far from any landing sites. It is therefore with great sadness and deep regret that according to this new data we have to assume beyond any reasonable doubt that MH370 ended in the Indian Ocean, ” he said.
Razak said that they will hold another press conference tomorrow to give more details but that they wanted to we wanted to “inform you of this news development at the earliest opportunity”.
The BBC is also reporting that relatives of those on board the flight were told of the latest development by way of a text message .
“Malaysia Airlines deeply regrets that we have to assume beyond any reasonable doubt that MH370 has been lost and that none of those on board survived,” it said in a text message to relatives, the BBC reported.
Earlier today, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said one of his country’s planes had spotted two objects during a search of the southern Indian Ocean.
Abbott said it was not known whether the objects came from the Boeing 777 which went missing on March 8. “Nevertheless we are hopeful that we can recover these objects soon and they will take us a step closer to resolving this tragic mystery,” he told the Australian parliament.
Ships and planes from several nations swarmed over a lonely corner of the southern Indian Ocean as mounting evidence of floating debris energised the search for Malaysia’s missing passenger jet.
But the roiling seas characteristic of the region threatened once again to foil search personnel who have failed to turn days of tantalising leads into hard evidence that could help solve the baffling mystery of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
China’s Xinhua news agency said a Chinese air crew spotted “two relatively big floating objects with many white smaller ones scattered within a radius of several kilometres”.
The report added to an Australian aircraft’s visual sighting Saturday of a wooden pallet, strapping and other debris, and subsequent French and Chinese satellite information indicating floating objects far off Australia’s west coast.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said search teams would investigate the Chinese sightings.
A growing international fleet of military and civilian aircraft has converged on the area, around 2,500 kilometres (1,500 miles) southwest of Perth, supported by Australian and British naval vessels tasked with retrieving any objects from the forbidding waters.
MH370 vanished without warning on March 8 over the South China Sea en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 227 passengers and 12 crew.
Malaysia believes the plane was deliberately diverted by someone on board. But the absence of firm evidence has fuelled intense speculation and conspiracy theories, and tormented the families of the missing.
Malaysia Airlines suffered another headache early today when a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Seoul had to divert to Hong Kong due to a malfunctioning electrical generator.
The airline said back-up systems kicked in and the plane, with 271 passengers, landed “uneventfully.”
-Additional reporting by Rónán Duffy
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