Malaysian plane signal detected after "disappearance"

The Malaysian prime minister said the plane continued flying in a “stealth” state after its communications system was cut off.

The missing MH370 plane was last detected about 7 hours later near the Indian Ocean, at 8:11 a.m. (local time) on March 8.

Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said investigators had revealed that the plane had flown west, confirming suspicions it had changed course.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak at a press conference on missing flight MH370. The press conference took place at the Sama-Sama Hotel in Sepang.

“We have reliable satellite data in coordination with relevant agencies and have a very clear indication of a westerly flight,” he said.

Mr Najib said that among the agencies coordinating the search for the plane were the Federal Aviation Authority, the National Transport Safety Committee, the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch, and Malaysian authorities.

He said the plane flew “invisible” after someone “deliberately” turned off the plane’s communication system.

“The transponder system was deliberately turned off by someone on that plane,” Mr Najib said at a special press conference at the Sama-Sama hotel.

Mr Najib confirmed initial suspicions that the plane flew about 200 nautical miles northwest of Penang. He said investigators had confirmed that military radar had picked up the signal, just over an hour after the plane lost contact with air traffic control in Vietnam.

“Our current focus is in the Andaman Sea and the Indian Ocean, in two flight corridors stretching from Kazakhstan up into the southern Indian Ocean near Indonesia,” he said.

The search for 239 people on board the Beijing-bound plane is still ongoing nearly 180 hours after it was reported missing./.

According to VOV