The communications systems of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 were deliberately disabled, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak has said.
According to satellite and radar evidence, he said, the plane then changed course and could have continued flying for a further seven hours. He said the “movements are consistent with the deliberate action of someone on the plane”.The plane disappeared a week ago with 239 people on board.
Mr Razak stopped short of saying it was a hijacking, saying only that they were investigating “all possibilities”.He said the plane could be anywhere from Kazakhstan to the Indian Ocean. The developments have added further uncertainty to the relatives of the 239 people on board the Kuala Lumpur to Beijing flight.
Some in the Chinese capital said the news had made them more hopeful that their loved ones are alive, but one woman said they were on an emotional rollercoaster and she felt “helpless and frustrated”.
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p id=”story_continues_3″>The BBC’s Jonah Fisher in Kuala Lumpur says investigators will now focus on trying to obtain the radar data from any of the countries the Boeing 777 may have passed over. This could include Thailand, Myanmar, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India and Pakistan.
Mr Razak said that in light of the new evidence, the investigation had “entered a new phase” and would focus on the crew and passengers on board. Shortly after the news conference finished, Malaysian police searched the Kuala Lumpur home of the plane’s pilot, 53-year-old Zaharie Ahmad Shah.