Missing Jet Flew For 6 1/2 Hours After Contact Was Lost
Malaysia's prime minister says he is now certain that someone disabled the communication systems on the passenger jet that disappeared last week with 239 people aboard.
The missing Malaysia Airliner flew more than six and a half hours after its last communication with air traffic control, Malaysia's Prime minister Najib Razak said in a news conference early Saturday.
"These movements are consistent with deliberate action by someone on the plane," Razak said.
As NPR's Frank Langfitt reports, Razak says the plane was either on a path towards the southern Indian Ocean or Central Asia.
MH370's last communication came at 1:30 last Saturday morning, but the plane continued to send signals to satellites until 8:11 a.m., the prime minister said.
Satellite data did not provide a precise location, but Razak said the last signal came along a southern flight corridor from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean or along "a northern corridor stretching from border of Kazakstan and Turkmenistan to northern Thailand."
Razak would not address reports the plane had been high-jacked, but said investigators are refocusing on the passengers and crew.
Malaysia is now requesting radar data from the various countries the plane may have passed through.