Malaysia confirms Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 was hijacked

• Investigators conclude people with flying experience hijacked plane
• No motive, no demands, and still no sight of plane
• Official: Hijacking no longer a theory - ‘it is conclusive’
• THE Prime Minister of Malaysia has given a lengthy update into missing Flight MH370.

With the plane still missing, and no information on where it is, Prime Minister Najib Razak said investigators were concluding the plane had been hijacked by someone on board the plane - someone experienced with flying.

From the radar evidence coming to light, he said the search window extended into flight corridors which stretched from Kazakhstan to southern Thailand and the southern Indian Ocean.

He said: “As of today, 14 countries, 43 ships and 58 aircraft are are involved in the search.

"At every stage we acted on the basis of verified information and we followed every credible lead. Sometimes these leads have led nowhere."

“It is widely understood that this has been a situation without precedent. We have conducted search operation over land in the South China Sea, the Straits of Malacca, the Andaman Sea and the Indian Ocean.

“At every stage we acted on the basis of verified information and we followed every credible lead. Sometimes these leads have led nowhere.”

A man walks past a board reading "Pray for MH370" for passengers aboard a missing Malaysia Airlines plane, in Kuala Lumpur. Source: AP

The primary radar data showed the aircraft proceeding on the flight path which took it to an area north of the straight - Straits of Malacca. Given this credible data which was subsequently corroborated with the relevant international authorities, we extended the area of search to include the Straits of Malacca and later to the Andaman Sea.

“Based on new data the aviation authorities of Malaysia and their international counterparts have determined that the plane’s last communication with the satellite was in one of two possible corridors. The northern corridor stretching approximately from the border of Kazakhstan and Turk man Stan to southern Thailand or the southern corridor stretching across from Indonesia to southern Indian Ocean. The investigation team is working to further refine the information.

“Despite media reports that the plane was hijacked, I wish to be very clear, we are still investigating all possibilities as to what caused MH370 to deviate from its original flight path.

Meanwhile an extraordinary claim has suggested the jetliner may have flown off the west coast of Australia.

Regarding the Australian connection, a source cited by Bloomberg news agency, said the last satellite transmission from the airliner has been traced to the Indian Ocean off Australia, somewhere to the west of Perth.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said it had no reliable information to indicate MH370 may have approached Australia.

A spokesman said: “AMSA has not received reliable information indicating that Malaysian Airlines’ flight MH370 may have approached Australia or entered the Australian search and rescue region.

“The Bloomberg report will be passed to coordinating authorities for their assessment in the context of all of the other information they have available to them,” he said.

If the search does move to Australian waters, it will be coordinated by AMSA.

Earlier, an American official told The Associated Press that investigators are examining the possibility of ``human intervention’’ in the plane’s disappearance, adding it may have been ``an act of piracy.’’

The Boeing 777’s communication with the ground was severed under one hour into its flight on March 8 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Malaysian officials have said radar data suggest it may have turned back and crossed back over the Malaysian peninsula westward, after setting out toward the Chinese capital.

Still searching for any sign of the plane ... A Royal Malaysian Air Force Navigator with his team members onboard a Malaysian Air Force aircraft over the Strait of Malacca. Source: AFP

The Malaysian official said only a skilled aviator could navigate the plane the way it was flown after its last confirmed location over the South China Sea, and that it appeared to have been steered to avoid radar detection. The official said it had been established with a ``more than 50 percent’’ degree of certainty that military radar had picked up the missing plane after it dropped off civilian radar.

The New York Times reported that radar signals recorded by the Malaysian military appear to show the plane ascending to 45,000 feet and making a sharp turn to the right not long after it disappeared from civilian radar.

Forty-five thousand feet is above the approved altitude limit for a Boeing 777-200.

The information comes from “a preliminary assessment by a person familiar with the data”, the paper said.

HOW COULD MALAYSIA AIRLINES’ FLIGHT MH370 BE STOLEN?

The same data suggests the plane descended to 23,000 feet as it approached the Malaysian island of Penang, but then re-ascended and flew northwest over the Straits of Malacca.

CNN is reporting that authorities think the plane may have gone in one of two directions after it passed through the Straits of Malacca: either northwest, towards the Bay of Bengal and the coast of India, or southwest, out into the expanse of the Indian Ocean.

FIVE THINGS ABOUT INDIA’S ANDAMAN ISLANDS

The reports are the strongest suggestion yet that the plane was being piloted after the last known contact was made with air traffic control, at 1.07am, when the plane was flying over the Gulf of Thailand.

The Wall Street Journal earlier today quoted aviation industry experts who said it was looking like the plane was the victim of sabotage, based partly on two of the disabling of the plane’s internal systems.

The paper quoted Richard Healing, a former member of the US National Transportation Safety Board, who said: “Increasingly, it seems to be heading into the criminal arena”.

“The emphasis is on determining if a hijacker or crew member diverted the plane,” he said.

Waiting for answers ... distraught relatives of Chinese passengers aboard missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 after families were briefed on rescue and searching efforts in Beijing. Picture: AP Source: AP

The Star Malaysia reported that security checks are being made by intelligence agencies into the profiles of the crew and the passengers.

Indian navy ships supported by surveillance planes and helicopters scoured Andaman Sea islands for a third day today without any success in finding evidence of the missing jet, an official said.

V.S.R. Murthy, a top Indian coast guard official, said the search has been expanded farther west into the Bay of Bengal.

Nearly a dozen ships, patrol vessels, surveillance aircraft and helicopters have been deployed but ”we have got nothing so far,’’ Murthy said.

Bangladesh also joined the search effort in the Bay of Bengal with two patrol aircraft and two frigates, said Mahbubul Haque Shakil, an aide of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Seeing no headway, Malaysian authorities suggested yesterday a new search area of 9,000 square kilometers to India along the Chennai coast in the Bay of Bengal, India’s Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Yesterday, India used heat sensors on flights over hundreds of uninhabited Andaman Sea islands that stretch south of Myanmar, covering an area 720 kilometers long and 52 kilometers wide. Only 37 of 572 are inhabited, with the rest covered in dense forests.

The island chain has four airstrips, but only the main airport in Port Blair can handle a large commercial jet.

Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said Malaysia was sharing information with foreign agencies and confirmed that agents were examing the activities and backgrounds of the pilots and crew. further checks are also being made on all passengers.

“I cannot confirm that there was no hijacking,” he said overnight.

Investigators are examining the possibility the plane’s disappearance was “an act of piracy”, another US official said yesterday.

The official, who wasn’t authorised to speak publicly, told AP news agency overnight while other theories are still being looked at key evidence for “human intervention” in the plane’s disappearance is that contact with its transponder stopped about a dozen minutes before a messaging system quit.

The official said it was also possible the plane may have landed somewhere.

It has been suggested the plane may have continued to fly on for around four hours after it lost contact with ground control.

Search area ... clouds hang over the North Sentinel Island, in India's south-eastern Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Picture: Gautam Singh Source: AP

A P-8 Poseidon aircraft and a guided missile destroyer, the USS Kidd, were due to aid the international hunt for the jet as the search effort extended further west, Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steven Warren said overnight.

The Kidd was preparing to search the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal, he said.

“The P-8 will be searching a much larger search area ... the southern portion of the Bay of Bengal and the northern portion of the Indian Ocean”.

The Boeing 777 vanished off radar early last Saturday over the South China Sea.

Its fate has vexed investigators and Malaysia authorities have dramatically expanded the scope of the search.

Eighth day of searching ... crew members look out the windows from a Malaysian Air Force CN235 aircraft during the search. Picture: Mohd Rasfan Source: AFP

The hunt initially focused on the South China Sea east of Malaysia — along the jet’s intended route.

But Malaysia’s government is now looking at a vast area, with 13 countries involved.

A team from the UK was also due to arrive in Kuala Lumpur last night to help the investigation which today enters its eighth day.

The team is also investigating four or five possibilities for how the transponders on the Malaysian Airlines 777-200 came to be turned off, including intentionally or under duress.

Malaysia’s Defence Minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, said last night that the search zone continues to be in two areas — the South China Sea and the Andaman Sea — because authorities are still no clearer on where the plane disappeared.

A Reuters report, which cited Malaysian military radar data, claimed overnight that a plane believed to be MH370 was “deliberately flown” towards India’s Andaman Islands, a chain of isles between the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal.

IN PICTURES: MALAYSIA AIRLINES FLIGHT MH370 VANISHES

Mr Hussein said that it was still not certain that an aircraft tracked on military radar near Penang, in the Malacca Strait, and heading upwards to the Andaman Sea, was actually MH370.

He said that the team was currently working with US experts and gleaning data from US satellites as well as sharing sensitive data which would not normally be shared among countries.

Hunting ... Royal Malaysian Navy ship KD Selangor helps search for the missing flight. There are now 57 ships and 48 aircraft from 13 countries looking for MH370. Picture: AFP Source: AFP

“It could have been intentional. It could be done under duress. It could be done because of an explosion. So that’s why I don’t want to get into the realm of speculation,” Mr Hussein said.

Mr Hussein also denied police had been to the pilot’s home or conducted any search but said this aspect of the investigation was being handled by a police taskforce.

Hope ... Malaysian Muslims offer Friday prayers during a special prayer session for passengers of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 plane at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport mosque. Picture: AFP Source: AFP