MH370 Lost in Southern Indian Ocean

Missing flight MH370 lost in southern Indian Ocean, says Malaysian PM

Najib Razak says analysis of satellite data shows that last position of missing plane was far from any possible landing sites.

The last desperate hopes of finding survivors in the hunt for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane ended on Monday with the announcement that flight MH370 had almost certainly crashed into the southern Indian Ocean with all lives lost.

A statement by the Malaysian prime minister, Najib Razak, concluded an anguished 16-day wait for families of the passengers and crew but brought them no closer to understanding why MH370 had vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on 8 March. The location of the Boeing 777 also remains unknown despite a massive international hunt.

Ten aircraft are combing a huge patch of the southern Indian Ocean, about 2,500km (1,500 miles) south-west of the Australian city of Perth. More ships are on their way and the US is dispatching a specialised device to help locate aircraft flight data and cockpit voice recorders.

Najib told a late-night press conference that new analysis of satellite data showed the last known position of the aircraft was over a remote area of the ocean, far from any possible landing sites.

"It is therefore with deep sadness and regret that I must inform you that according to new data, flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean," he told reporters.

Family members who had gathered at a hotel in Beijing wailed as they heard the news. Some were carried out on stretchers, while others wept as they left the briefing room.

Najib said: "For [families] the past few weeks have been heartbreaking. I know this must be the most heartbreaking of all," he added. He urged the media to give the families space.

He said the conclusions were based on new analysis by UK aviation investigators and satellite company Inmarsat.

Malaysia Airlines informed relatives of the news about half an hour before the public statement. Many saw it first via text message though the company said that others were told in personal briefings and phone calls.

The message – sent in English only, although two-thirds of the passengers were Chinese – read: "We deeply regret that we have to assume beyond any reasonable doubt that MH370 has been lost and that none of those on board survived."

In a longer statement, the company added: "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. Alongside the search for MH370, there is an intensive investigation, which we hope will also provide answers."

It added that it would continue to support relatives through the weeks and months ahead.

Malaysia's acting transport minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, said via Twitter that words could not describe how he felt, adding that he promised the families in particular that "the search continues".

Following the statement, distraught relatives of Chinese passengers attacked Malaysia for announcing the crash and loss of life without direct proof, and for wasting the best chance to rescue those on board.

In a statement of their own, they said the airline, Malaysian government and its military had "continually and extremely delayed, hidden and covered the facts, and attempted to deceive the passengers' relatives, and people all over the world".

That had not only devastated relatives but "misled, delayed the research and rescue, wasted a lot of man power, and material resources and lost the most valuable rescue opportunity. If our 154 relatives lost their lives because of it, Malaysia Airlines, the Malaysian government, and the Malaysian military are [their] killers."

Investigators have indicated that the Beijing-bound flight was deliberately diverted just as it prepared to leave Malaysian airspace, turning west and re-crossing the Malay peninsula. Communications systems were disabled or stopped working at about the same time.

But they say they have not ruled out any possible cause of the Boeing 777s mysterious disappearance.

Hours earlier, Chinese and Australian aeroplanes had reported new sightings of items that could be linked to the plane, in an area where satellite imagery has shown possible debris.

The Australian prime minister, Tony Abbott, said that the crew of an Australian P-3 Orion maritime surveillance plane had located two objects: the first grey or green and circular, the second orange and rectangular. An Australian navy supply ship, the HMAS Success, was on its way to attempt to recover the objects, and should reach them by Tuesday morning if not before.

But a US navy P-8 Poseidon maritime surveillance plane was unable to find items seen by a Chinese aircraft earlier in the day, Australian search co-ordinators announced.

The crew of the Chinese IL-76 transport aircraft observed two large objects and several smaller ones spread across several square kilometres, state news agency Xinhua reported.

But forecasters warned that bad weather was threatening the search, with increased winds, low cloud and a reduction in visibility. A cold front is expected to move through the area on Tuesday, bringing rain, more low cloud and less visibility, although a tropical cyclone is thought to be too far north to affect the area.

On Sunday, a French satellite detected items potentially related to the flight, one of which appeared to be about the same size as an object spotted earlier by a Chinese satellite, a Malaysian official said. But he noted that the French data placed the objects about 930km north of where items were seen in Chinese and Australian images.

Nasa has said it will use high-resolution cameras aboard satellites and the International Space Station to look for possible crash sites.

The US military's Pacific command has said it is sending a black-box locator and an undersea robotic vehicle to the area in case a debris field is found. The towed pinger locator is pulled behind a vessel at slow speeds and can hear the signals emitted by the electronic beacon on the flight data recorders to a depth of 6,100 metres (20,000 feet).

Rear admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said on Monday that the US was also sending the Bluefin-21, an autonomous submarine vehicle to Perth. "Admiral [Sam] Locklear made a very prudent and wise decision to move the equipment that could be useful should a debris field be found, or should we think we can get close to where the black box may be," he said.

Earlier in the day, Hishammuddin said the co-pilot of the flight was new to flying 777s but had successfully completed five flights on the aircraft already. The captain was also a qualified examiner.

He added that police had interviewed more than 100 people in their investigation so far, including the families of the pilot and co-pilot.

Tony Blinken, Barack Obama's deputy national security adviser, told CNN: "There is no prevailing theory."

He added: "Publicly or privately, we don't know … We're chasing down.