The search for the Malaysia Airlines plane that disappeared over two weeks ago has come to an end, according to CNN News. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said Monday that Flight 370 "ended" its journey in the Indian Ocean.
New satellite data by British satellite provider Inmarsat and the British Air Accidents Investigation Branch revealed that the plane, carrying 239 people on board, was last seen in a "remote location" over the middle of the Indian Ocean, west of Perth, Australia. Razak said the plane was "far from any possible landing sites."
"This is a remote location, far from any possible landing sites," Razak said during a media briefing, without describing the nature of the analysis. "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."
The jet vanished March 8 after taking off from Kuala Lampur bound for Beijing. It disappeared off the radar shortly after 1 a.m., but according to satellite data it continued to fly for up to seven hours. Families of those on board were informed of the latest developments. According to CNN, a relative of a missing passenger on the plane was told that "all lives were lost."
The announcement came just as Australian navy ship officials reported that they spotted two floating objects that are believed to parts of the plane in the southern Indian Ocean. Australian Maritime Safety Authority described one object as "a grey or green circular object," and the other "an orange rectangular object."
A reporter on board a Chinese plane, flying at 33,000 feet on its way back to Australia's west coast, said that a search team saw "two relatively big floating objects with many white smaller ones scattered within a radius of several kilometers." Over the weekend, other search crews had spotted "suspicious objects" in the Indian Ocean, including what was believed to be wooden pallets. But officials have not yet confirmed if the pallets are connected to the missing plane.
There have been no reports on what went wrong during the flight. Malaysian authorities have considered several possibilities, including hijacking, sabotage, terrorism or the mental health of the pilots. Over 150 of the passengers on board the missing plane were Chinese.
No wreckage has yet to be recovered.
The text msg Malaysia Airlines sent to inform Chinese #MH370 families about flight's fate ending in S Indian Ocean pic.twitter.com/Ys3azWL7WB
— Adrienne Mong (@adriennemong) March 24, 2014
Read Malaysian PM Najib Razak's statement on MH370 in full: https://t.co/3BakkKSJan pic.twitter.com/iYCE5esIH9 — GuardianUS (@GuardianUS) March 24, 2014
