Military radar DID track an unidentified aircraft at the time MH370 disappeared, Malaysian PM reveals six weeks after the search began
- Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak said the military's radar tracked what is believed to have been the Malaysian Airlines plane
- It was detected after it had turned back while on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8
- Najib Razak said preliminary findings would soon be made public
- But he declined to say explicitly if the doomed jet was lost for good
- 'I need to take into account the feelings of the next of kin', he told CNN
- Yesterday it emerged material on Australian beach was not from MH370
- Malaysia Airlines flight vanished on March 8 with 239 people on board
PUBLISHED: 20:25 GMT, 24 April 2014 | UPDATED: 04:23 GMT, 25 April 2014
Surprise admission: Najib Razak said the first MH370 report will be released next week
Military radar in Malaysia did track an unidentified aircraft as it flew across the country's airspace after MH370 lost contact with ground control, it was revealed today.
Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak said the military's radar tracked what is believed to have been the Malaysian Airlines plane after it had turned back while on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8.
'The military radar, the primary radar, has some capability,' Mr Najib said.
'It tracked an aircraft which did a turn back but they were not sure, exactly sure, whether it was MH370.
'What they were sure of was that the aircraft was not deemed to be hostile.'
Mr Najib told CNN he did not believe it when he first heard about the critical satellite data on which the current search in the Indian Ocean is based on.
'To be honest, I found it hard to believe,' said the Prime Minister.
'It's a bizarre scenario which none of us could have contemplated so that's why when I met the team...of foremost experts in aviation industry I asked them again and again "are you sure?"'
'And their answer to me was we are as sure as we can possibly be.'
Earlier reports had suggested military radar had not picked up any definite radar information, leading to speculation that the Boeing 777 had been flown deliberately low and close to the coastline to avoid radar.
CNN said that when Mr Najib was asked if he believed the plane was now lost, he replied: 'On the balance of the evidence it would be hard to imagine otherwise.'
The Prime Minister also revealed that the government's preliminary report into the disappearance of the aircraft, which had 239 passengers and crew, would be released next week.
An international team is to investigate the disappearance of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 (file photo)
Anger: A Chinese relative of a passenger on missing flight at a meeting at Metro Park Hotel in Beijing
Malaysia's preliminary report into the disappearance of flight MH370 will be released next week, the country's Prime Minister has said.
Najib Razak made the surprise announcement as his government continued to be beseiged by angry families, some of whom refuse to accept the plane was destroyed unless they have hard evidence.
The report has already been sent to the United Nations' International Civil Aviation Organization but not made public.
Mr Razak told
CNN: 'I have directed an internal investigation team of experts to look at the report, and there is a likelihood that next week we could release the report.'
He later confirmed it will be released next week, CNN reported.
Despite seven weeks passing since the Malaysia Airlines jet vanished, Mr Razak declined to say outright that it had been lost for good - 'out of respect' for grieving families.
Chinese relatives of passengers on the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 rest during a meeting
Reflective: A man stands in front of a billboard as Chinese relatives of passengers on the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 have a meeting at the Metro Park Hotel in Beijing
He told CNN's Richard Quest: 'At some point in time I would be, but right now I think I need to take into account the feelings of the next of kin, and you know some of them have said publicly that they aren't willing to accept it until they find hard evidence.'
The denial came despite Malaysian authorities a month ago telling families definitively - and by text message - that 'none of those on board survived'.
The government has been repeatedly attacked by relatives of passengers, the majority of whom were from China, for not doing enough in its search for the jet.
Mr Razak's announcement came as a tropical cyclone again threatened to hamper a 26-nation air, surface and underwater search of the Indian Ocean.
Airborne searches were partly suspended for the last two days because of heavy rain, strong winds, rough seas thanks to Tropical Cyclone Jack.
The hunt is already the most expensive in aviation history and is focusing on an area where acoustic 'pings' were detected, possibly from the jet's black box recorder, a month after it disappeared.
Key to the mission is the U.S. Navy undersea drone Bluefin-21, which will soon finish scouring a 6.2 square mile stretch of seabed.
Authorities have said if Bluefin-21 fails to find a trace of the plane in its initial target search area, 1,200 miles north west of Perth, it will be redeployed to new areas.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the airliner's probable impact zone was 430 miles long and 50 miles wide.
A new search strategy would be adopted if nothing is found in the current seabed search zone.
Location: The Australian Transport Safety Bureau had been scrutinising photos of the object, which washed ashore six miles east of Augusta in Western Australia state
Search: The Australian Navy launches its Phoenix Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) Artemis as part of the search last week.
The hunt for missing flight MH370 has become the most expensive in aviation history
Looking: Captain Flt Lt Tim McAlevey of the Royal New Zealand Air Force flying a P-3 Orion during a search trying to locate missing Malaysia Airways Flight MH370 over the Indian Ocean
‘If at the end of that period we find nothing, we are not going to abandon the search, we may well rethink the search, but we will not rest until we have done everything we can to solve this mystery,’ he said.
Yesterday authorities ruled out any link between debris picked up on an Australian beach and the missing jet.
The debris, found on Wednesday on a beach at the southern tip of Western Australia state, was seen as the first lead since April 4 when the pings were detected.
But it took Australian authorities less than a day to analyse detailed photographs of the beached debris, which included sheet metal with rivets, and dismiss the possibility that it may be linked to the plane.
'We're not seeing anything in this that would lead us to believe that it is from a Boeing aircraft,' said Australian Transport Safety Bureau commissioner Martin Dolan.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2612487/Report-missing-jet-MH370-released-week-Malaysian-PM-makes-surprise-announcement-relatives-cling-hope-not-destroyed.html#ixzz2zsVG37XY
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By | Associated Press – Thu, Apr 24, 2014
