The sequence of events surrounding the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
What we know on Malaysian plane
A summary of the questions answered about the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 after Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s Monday announcement:
THE PLANE CRASHED: Najib said satellite data showed the flight “ended in the southern Indian Ocean,” confirming that the Boeing 777 that disappeared more than two weeks ago went down in a remote corner of the ocean, “far from any possible landing sites.”
ITS LAST POSITION: A British company calculated satellite data obtained from the remote area of the ocean, using analysis never before used in an aviation investigation of this kind, and pinpointed that the last spot the flight was seen in the air was in the middle of the ocean west of Perth, Australia.
NO SURVIVORS: Najib left little doubt that all 239 crew and passengers died in the crash; the father of an aviation engineer on the flight said, “We accept the news of the tragedy. It is fate.”
Malaysia: Missing flight crashed in Indian Ocean
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — The missing Malaysia Airlines plane crashed into a remote corner of the Indian Ocean, the nation’s prime minister said Monday night, citing a new analysis of satellite data. The statement was the first major step toward resolving the 2-week-old.
But with the location of Flight 370 still unknown — most likely somewhere at the bottom of the sea — questions still remain about what brought down the aircraft and why.
Dressed in a black suit, Prime Minister Najib Razak announced the news in a brief statement to reporters, saying the information was based on an unprecedented study of data from a satellite that had received the final known signals from the plane.
He said the data indicated the Boeing 777, which took off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing on March 8 with 239 passengers and crew, flew “to 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,” he said.
The plane’s disappearance shortly after takeoff has baffled investigators, who have yet to rule out mechanical or electrical failure, hijacking, sabotage, terrorism or issues related to the mental health of the pilots or someone else on board.
Malaysian authorities have said evidence so far suggests the plane was deliberately turned back across Malaysia to the Strait of Malacca, with its communications systems disabled. They are unsure what happened next.
The search is now considered a race against time because of the battery life of the “pinger” in the black box, which may run out in the next two weeks.
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Relatives sob as Malaysia confirms plane is lost
BEIJING — Relatives shrieked and sobbed uncontrollably. Men and women nearly collapsed, held up by loved ones. Their grief came pouring out after 17 days of waiting for definitive word on the fate of the passengers and crew of the missing Malaysia Airlines jet.
Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak gave word late Monday in an announcement from Kuala Lumpur, saying there was no longer any doubt that Flight 370 went down in the southern Indian Ocean.
Relatives of passengers in Beijing had been called to a hotel near the airport to hear the news, and some 50 of them gathered there. Afterward, they filed out of a conference room in heart-wrenching grief.
One woman collapsed and fell on her knees, crying “My son! My son!”
Medical teams arrived at the Lido Hotel with several stretchers. One elderly man was carried out of the conference room, his face covered by a jacket. Minutes later, a middle-aged woman was taken out on another stretcher, her face ashen and her blank eyes seemingly staring off into the distance.
Most of the relatives refused to speak to gathered reporters and some lashed out in anger, urging journalists not to film the scene. Security guards restrained a man as he kicked a TV cameraman and shouted, “Don’t film. I’ll beat you to death!”
Some relatives staying at hotels in Beijing and Kuala Lumpur were notified in person of the imminent late-night news conference by Razak, and some heard over the phone.
Some received a heads-up by text message, said Sarah Bajc, who has been awaiting news about her boyfriend, Philip Wood, who was aboard the flight that disappeared March 8.
“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,” the text message said. “As you will hear in the next hour from Malaysia’s Prime Minister, we must now accept all evidence suggests the plane went down in the Southern Indian Ocean.”
Bajc noted in an email that the prime minister’s announcement made no mention of confirmed wreckage, “so no real closure,” but she also said the time for grief had begun.
“I need closure to be certain but cannot keep on with public efforts against all odds,” she wrote. “I STILL [sic] feel his presence, so perhaps it was his soul all along. It looks like the first phase of our mission has ended. Now Philip’s family and I will need some time for private grief.”
Selamat Omar, father of a 29-year-old aviation engineer aboard the flight, said in a telephone interview that Malaysia Airlines had not yet briefed the families on whether they will be taken to Australia, closer to where the plane is believed to have gone down. He said they expected more details today.
“We accept the news of the tragedy. It is fate,” Selamat said.
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