MH370 Flight Was Taken Off Course Manually and Flown Towards Indian Ocean, Says Report
Investigators, who released a report on missing Malaysia Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 informed that the flight was probably steered off course deliberately and flown to the southern Indian Ocean rather than being under the control of the autopilot.
Kuala Lumpur, July 30: Four years after the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 went missing, a safety report into the tragic and mysterious incident has concluded that the plane was manually turned around mid-air. However, investigators were not able to determine who was responsible for the fateful incident. The report said that the cause of the disappearance still cannot be determined and the "possibility of intervention by a third party cannot be excluded."
Investigators further informed that the flight was probably steered off course deliberately and flown to the southern Indian Ocean rather than being under the control of the autopilot. The report, however, disproved theories that had suggested the pilot and first officer brought the plane down on a suicide mission.
The Malaysian government’s safety report into the disaster informs that the Boeing 777's controls were "likely deliberately manipulated to take it off course". The independent investigation report released on Monday highlighted shortcomings in the government response that exacerbated the mystery.
The report reiterated Malaysia's assertion the plane was deliberately diverted and flown for over seven hours after severing communications. The family members of those onboard the plane said they were frustrated as there were many gaps in the investigations and questions left unanswered.
The Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 carrying 239 people from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing vanished March 8, 2014 and is presumed to have crashed in the far southern Indian Ocean. It had just entered Malaysian airspace, when for unknown reasons the Boeing-777 changed course, flying for more than six hours with its satellite and navigation systems turned off.
Reports inform that scattered pieces of debris that washed ashore on African beaches and the Indian Ocean islands indicated a distant remote stretch of the ocean where the plane likely crashed. However, a government search by Australia, Malaysia and China failed to pinpoint a location. And a second, private search by U.S. company Ocean Infinity that finished earlier this year also found no sign of the wreckage.
Attempts to locate the plane have been extensive over the past four years. As per details by officials, today's report is still not a final report, since the plane hasn't been found. Malaysia's government has said it is open to resuming searching if credible evidence of the plane's location emerges.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 30, 2018 05:32 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).