The hunt for the missing Boeing 777, and its 239 passengers and crew, has taken many twists and turns. Here, we publish a day by day account of the information that has emerged about the plane’s final hours, confirmed locations – and theories about its fate.
When Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disappeared on a clear Saturday night from radar screens, no one could explain how the Boeing 777 had seemingly vanished. Ten days later, there is still more confusion and misinformation than solid evidence, and the aircraft with 239 people on board is still missing.
Saturday 8 March
Just hours after the 12.40am flight disappeared the Malaysia Airlineschief executive, Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, said the plane was still in contact with air traffic controllers about two hours into the flight, pinning the last contact at about 2.40am [all times local], at a point 120 nautical miles off the east coast of Malaysia.
But FlightAware, a flight-tracking website, showed the plane climbing to 10,700 metres (35,000ft) before disappearing from records at 1am, about 20 minutes after it took off. At 1am, the plane was scheduled to enter Vietnamese air space while flying between Malaysia and Ho Chi Minh City and did not. No distress signal was issued.
Twelve hours after the plane vanished, search and rescue teams from Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam began looking for debris or wreckage off Vietnam. China and the Philippines soon sent their own ships and aircraft to help.
A few hours later, a Vietnamese admiral told media the aircraft could have crashed in Vietnamese waters near an island – with reports of a giant oil slick and column of smoke emerging. Soon, questions over whether terrorism was involved began circulating after an Italian and an Austrian came forward to say they had not flown on the flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, despite being listed in the flight’s manifest.
Sunday
Teams from the US began aiding the search. Malaysia’s prime minister, Najib Razak, said terrorism was a possibility as authorities began investigatingreports that as many as four people on board MH370 may have been using stolen passports.
Later that day, a Japan-bound pilot from another Boeing 777 claimed to have made contact with MH370 at 1.30am, minutes before it disappeared, saying he had asked the aircraft if it had entered Vietnamese airspace, but received only static and mumbling in return.
Vietnam claimed to have found more debris, while the Malaysian transport minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, told reporters the aircraft may have turned back towards Malaysia. Later that day it emerged that the Italian and Austrian men believed to be on board the flight had had their passports stolen in Thailand within the past two years, prompting fears that the men using their passports were terrorists.
Monday
Malaysia’s aviation chief, Aharuddin Abdul Rahman, stoked fears of a terrorist plot when he said five passengers had checked in but never boarded the flight.
Authorities denied Vietnamese reports that debris had been found, with the oil slick believed to belong to the plane revealed to be from a ship, while the “life raft” spotted off the coast of Vietnam turned out to be a moss-covered cable reel. CCTV footage of the two men travelling on stolen European passports prompted Malaysian officials to describe them as resembling the black Italian striker Mario Balotelli. Najib demanded a review of Kuala Lumpur’s security measures.
Tuesday
Malaysia Airlines said the pilots may have tried to turn the plane back towards Malaysia as the country widened its search and provided more teams.
In a bizarre twist, Malaysia’s air force chief Tan Sri Rodzali Daud said the plane had been detected at 2.40am near Pulau Perak, an island in the Malacca strait – indicating the plane had indeed flown back and was accounted for a whole hour later after it initially disappeared. He would later deny this claim.
Earlier fears of terrorism were slightly assuaged as Interpol said more information had emerged about the men who travelled on stolen passports that indicated terrorism was less likely. Interpol named the two as Pouria Nour Mohammad Mehrdad, 19, and Delavar Seyed Mohammadreza, 29, both from Iran. Reports suggested they were asylum seekers rather than terrorists.
Wednesday
Rodzali said the last radar signal from the missing aircraft was received 200 miles north-west of Penang at 2.15am on Saturday – a third potential last sighting. This would put the last signal at 45 minutes after authorities had initially said they lost contact.
However, Daud said the data had not been received in real time, so it could have belonged to another aircraft. “I’m not saying this is MH370. We are still corroborating this,” he told a press conference. “There is a possibility of the aircraft making a comeback. It remains as a possibility … It is very difficult to say for sure it is the aircraft.”
Unconfirmed reports also emerged of Malaysian fishermen spotting what looked like a life raft with the word “Boarding” on it floating off the east coast of Malaysia, although it is believed to have sunk when authorities attempted to bring it back to shore, while the Beijing News claimed that a dead body was seen in the Malacca strait wearing a life vest.
Thursday
Sources “familiar with the details” of the missing Boeing 777 told the Wall Street Journal that US investigators believed the plane had flown for a total of five hours, indicating it have been diverted “with the intention of using it later for another purpose”. The theory was apparently based on data from the Boeing’s engines, manufactured by the British company Rolls-Royce, sent to the ground.
However, Malaysian officials denied that the engines transmitted any data past 1.07am.
Malaysian authorities also said the plane was again caught on radar at 2.30am – this was later denied – and on military radar at 2.15am near the Malacca strait, indicating the plane had turned away from its flight path towards Beijing.
Malaysian authorities also said the plane was again caught on radar at 2.30am – this was later denied – and on military radar at 2.15am near the Malacca strait, indicating the plane had turned away from its flight path towards Beijing.
Friday
With almost a week gone, a new theory emerged: a report based on radar-trafficking suggesting MH370 may have flown deliberately off course towards the Andaman Islands after it last made contact with air traffic control. Sources told Reuters the flight path of an unidentified aircraft investigators believed to be MH370 was following a route with specific navigational waypoints, suggesting someone with aviation training was at the helm.
On the same day came reports that the aircraft’s two communications systems were shut down, with “manual intervention” the probable cause. According to two US officials who spoke to ABC News, the 777’s data reporting system was shut down at 1.07am, while the transponder – which sends back information to civilian radar regarding performance, location and altitude – was turned off at 1.21am.
At a press conference late on Friday afternoon, Hishammuddin, Malaysia’s acting transport minister, said authorities were investigating the possibility that the plane’s communications systems had been deliberately shut down and said there were “four or five possibilities”.
Hishammuddin confirmed that MH370’s “whole passenger manifest”, including crew, was being looked into and added: “If investigation requires searching the pilots’ homes, it will be done.”
Saturday
In perhaps the most dramatic twist to the story so far Najib confirmed that the plane’s communications systems had been deliberately turned off and that the jet had seemingly flown on for another six hours after contact was lost.
Addressing a press conference Malaysia’s prime minister said that while the transponder and Acars data system were turned off early in the flight, the plane communicated with satellite seven hours after it took off.
The satellite communication could only determine that the plane took one of two huge flight corridors following its last confirmed location at 2.15am a week before over the Malacca strait – south from Indonesia towards the Indian Ocean; or north from Thailand towards central Asia.
“These movements are consistent with deliberate action by someone on the plane,” Najib said, saying attention was being focused on potential motives for those among the crew or passengers. Malaysian police began searching the home of the plane’s 53-year-old captain, Zaharie Ahmad Shah.
Sunday
Malaysian investigators said the last voice communication from MH370– a brief message to ground controllers saying “All right, good night” – came after the first set of communication systems was disabled. This placed yet more focus on the potential actions of Zaharie and his 27-year-old co-pilot, Fariq Abdul Hamid, with their families interviewed.
There were now 25 countries helping with the vast search, including Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and Australia, with special assistance regarding satellite data from the US, China and France.
Monday
Malaysia said it believed the final spoken words from the plane came from Fariq, the co-pilot, not his colleague or an intruder on the flight deck. However, they appeared to backtrack from their earlier belief that the words were spoken after communications devices were deliberately switched off.
The voice communication came at 1.19am, two minutes before the plane’s transponder was seemingly turned off. While the last signal from the Acars data communication system came earlier, at 1.07am, it was not due to transmit again until 30 minutes later, Hishammuddin, the interim transport minister, told reporters, meaning that could have seemingly been turned off at any point before 1.37am.
Despite increased focus on the potential actions of the pilot and co-pilot, no possible motive or connection to extremist beliefs had emerged, with friends and family describing them as moderate and balanced.
Tuesday
In yet another indication that someone with a high degree of knowledge about airliners was behind MH370’s change of course, the New York Times said the initial westward turn by the plane came about not through use of the manual controls but after a flight computer was reprogrammed, most likely by someone in the cockpit.
Quoting unnamed US officials, the paper said such an operation would have to be carried out by someone with considerable knowledge of such systems.
At yet another press briefing, Hishammuddin said the search for the plane had “entered a new phase” of international co-operation, with other countries taking on an increased role. The entire search area, he said, was now 2.24m square nautical miles.
With no definite news about what might have happened to the plane and the people on board, the father of one Chinese passenger told reporters he and other relatives were considering staging a hunger striketo push for more answers.
Source: http://www.theguardian.com
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