Questions yet to be answered about ill-fated Flight 370

With the exact location of Flight 370 still unknown, profound questions remain about what brought down the aircraft and why.

The missing Malaysia Airlines plane crashed into a remote corner of the Indian Ocean, said the nation’s prime minister, citing a new analysis of satellite data. The statement was the first major step toward resolving a two-week-old mystery that has consumed the world.

Dressed in a black suit, Najib Razak announced the news in a brief statement, saying the information was based on an unprecedented analysis of satellite data.

He said the data indicated that 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.”

In Beijing, relatives shrieked and sobbed when they heard the news. Their grief came pouring out after days of waiting for definitive word on the fate of their relatives.

The family members in Beijing had been called to a hotel near the airport to hear the announcement. Afterwards, they filed out of a conference room in heart-wrenching grief.

One woman collapsed and fell on her knees, crying “My son! My son!”

In Kuala Lumpur, Selamat Omar, the father of an aviation engineer, aged 29, who was on the flight, said some members of families of other passengers broke down in tears at the news. “We accept the news of the tragedy. It is fate,” he said.

Search teams from 26 nations have pored over radar data and scoured a wide swath of Asia for weeks with advanced aircraft and ships in an attempt find the plane.

Malaysia Airlines said in a statement to the families that “our prayers go out to all the loved ones of the 226 passengers and of our 13 friends and colleagues at this enormously painful time”.

“We know there are no words that we or anyone else can say which can ease your pain. The ongoing multinational search operation will continue, as we seek answers to the questions which remain.”

The plane’s disappearance on a routine flight to Beijing 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 on board.

Officials have said that the plane automatically sent a brief signal — a “ping” — every hour to a satellite belonging to Inmarsat, a British company, even after other communication systems on the jet shut down.

The pings did not include any location information, but an initial analysis showed that the location of the last ping was probably along one of two vast arcs running north and south.

Najib said Inmarsat had done further calculations “using a type of analysis never before used in an investigation of this sort,” and had concluded that the plane’s last position was “in the middle of the Indian Ocean, west of Perth”.

Yesterday, ships rushed to the location of floating objects spotted by Australian and Chinese planes in the southern Indian Ocean close to where multiple satellites have detected possible remains of the jet.