First preliminary report on missing MH370 released

At 2:00 p.m. on March 8 – Vietnam time, in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, an independent group of investigators established in April 2014 with the mission of clarifying the fate of MH370 announced the first preliminary investigation report on the disappearance of the plane.

Search area for the mysterious missing plane (source: Malaysian government and Australian Maritime Safety Agency, graphic: BBC)

The report was released on the first anniversary of the plane's disappearance.

The report, which is more than 500 pages long, does not draw any conclusions about the investigation conducted over the past year, but only mentions information related to the plane's disappearance that the investigation team has collected from the day the plane went missing until March 7, 2015, and the progress of the search for the plane.

“The sole objective of the investigation into the plane crash is to prevent similar accidents from happening again. The objective of the investigation is not to assign blame or responsibility to any party. Over the next few months, the investigation team will analyze and draw conclusions and recommendations based on the information we have gathered,” Kok Soo Shon, head of the Malaysian independent investigation team, said in a statement at a press conference.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 carrying 239 passengers and crew on its journey from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Beijing, China mysteriously disappeared on March 8, 2014.

Malaysian authorities say satellite data shows the plane veered off course and headed into the southern Indian Ocean. A massive and expensive search operation led by Australia has been underway in the area where the plane is believed to have crashed, but so far no evidence has been found.

According to VOV/Reuters