Malaysian Airlines 777-200 ER

The missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER jetliner is reportedly believed to have flown into the southern Indian Ocean.

Lack of any evidence of the aircraft moving towards the northern side and the absence of wreckage in this part is making investigators believe that it must have travelled to the southern end, reported Reuters quoting an unnamed source.

The source, involved in the investigation, was quoted by the agency as saying: "The working assumption is that it went south, and furthermore that it went to the southern end of that corridor."

It has been more than ten days since the Flight MH370, carrying 239 passengers from Malaysia to China, disappeared off radars an hour after takeoff on 8 March.

The search for the aircraft has been stretched across 305,000km² over the Indian Ocean, 2,600km south-west of Perth, on Australia’s west coast, after a new radar data from Thailand pointed towards this region.

"It probably is the largest peacetime armada of assets and satellite information-sharing that we have ever seen for a rescue-and-search operation."

Twenty six countries are involved in the multinational search of the jetliner.

However, there are fears that the investigation would not lead to anything, with countries hesitant to share sensitive military information.

Reuters quoted a source as saying: "These are basically spy planes, that’s what they were designed for."

Malaysia’s Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said that the search team is using advanced equipment to trace the missing aircraft.

"It probably is the largest peacetime armada of assets and satellite information-sharing that we have ever seen for a rescue-and-search operation," Hussein was quoted by the agency.

Investigators believe that the two data links, the ACARS system and the transponder, were switched off before the final verbal message of ‘all right, good night’ expected to have been from the co-pilot, was received from the cockpit.


Image: Malaysia Airlines 9M-MRO, the aircraft involved in the incident, at Charles de Gaulle Airport in 2011. Photo: courtesy of russavia/Laurent ERRERA.

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