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President Barack Obama has said a surface-to-air missile fired from a rebel-held area in east Ukraine brought down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.
Malaysia Airlines plane crashed on July 17, killing all 298 people on board.
Barack Obama confirmed one American was among the plane’s victims.
Confirmed death toll so far:
Netherlands: 189
Malaysia: 44 (including 15 crew)
Malaysia Airlines plane crashed in rebel-held Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board
Australian: 27
Indonesia: 12
UK: 10
Germany: 4
Belgium: 4
Philippines: 3
Canada: 1
New Zealand: 1
US: 1
Unverified: 2
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A surface-to-air missile fired from a rebel-held area in east Ukraine brought down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, President Barack Obama has said during a press conference.
The plane crashed on Thursday, killing all 298 people on board.
Barack Obama called the attack “an outrage of unspeakable proportions”, saying he would ensure “the truth is out”.
The US and Russia clashed at the UN Security Council, with Russia’s envoy putting the blame on Ukraine for its army’s attacks on eastern areas.
Up to 20 international observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) reached the crash scene near the village of Grabovo on Friday.
However, Swiss Ambassador to the OSCE Thomas Greminger said the team did not get full access and were stopped by “local illegal armed groups”.
The Boeing 777 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. It fell between Krasni Luch in Luhansk region and Shakhtarsk in the neighboring region of Donetsk.
Latest figures released by Malaysia Airlines show the plane was carrying 189 Dutch nationals, 27 Australians, 44 Malaysians (including 15 crew), 12 Indonesians and 10 Britons, along with a number of other nationalities.
President Barack Obama has said a surface-to-air missile fired from a rebel-held area in east Ukraine brought down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17
Confirming one American was among the plane’s victims, Barack Obama said: “Evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by a surface-to-air missile that was launched from an area that is controlled by Russian-backed separatists inside of Ukraine.”
Thepresident said in a briefing at the White House: “I think it’s important for us to recognize that this outrageous event underscored that it is time for peace and security to be restored in Ukraine.
“Violence and conflict inevitably lead to unforeseen consequences.”
Barack Obama called for an immediate ceasefire in eastern Ukraine. He demanded that full access be granted to investigators and that evidence should not be tampered with.
He said: “This was a global tragedy… The eyes of the world are on eastern Ukraine, and we are going to make sure that the truth is out.”
Barack Obama said it was up to Russia to stop the flow of heavy armaments and fighters into Ukraine.
Earlier at the UN, US envoy Samantha Power said the US could not rule out that Russians had helped the separatists fire the missile.
Samantha Power added: “President Putin has committed on several occasions to working towards dialogue and peace, and every single time he has broken that commitment.
“Russia can end this war. Russia must end this war.”
Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said: “Pressure should not be brought on this investigation, trying to prejudge its outcome with broad statements and insinuations that are unjustified.”
He said the Ukrainian military was responsible for “punitive operations on civilian targets and infrastructure, with dozens of civilians killed”, saying the attacks must be stopped as soon as possible.
Vitaly Churkin also criticized the US, which he said had “pushed Ukraine to escalate the crisis and passed the blame on to Russia”.
He also questioned why the Ukrainian aviation authorities had not closed the air space earlier.
The OSCE said its team spent 75 minutes at the site but its movement was restricted and it had not been able to seal off the area or secure a corridor to allow access for investigators.
OSCE spokesman Michael Bociurkiw said it discovered no information about the plane’s flight recorder and it was unclear who was in charge.
The rebels have accused the Ukrainian government of downing the airliner.
However, Ukraine called the disaster an “act of terrorism”. Ukrainian authorities released what they say are intercepted phone conversations that proved the plane was shot down by separatists.
Ukraine accuses Russia of aiding the rebels and supplying them with advanced weapons.
MH17 is the second disaster suffered by Malaysia Airlines this year.
Flight MH370 disappeared en route from Malaysia to China on March 8 and has still not been found.
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Malaysia Airlines shares closed down 11% in Malaysia following the crash of flight MH17 in Ukraine on route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.
Some Asian stock markets also ended the day lower on fears the crash may intensify political tensions between the West, Ukraine and Russia.
This is the second catastrophe to hit the Malaysian airline this year after flight MH370 disappeared in March.
Questions are being asked about whether the carrier can now survive.
Malaysia Airlines shares closed down 11 percent in Malaysia following the crash of flight MH17 in Ukraine (photo AP)
“Even if this is pure coincidence, it’s never happened in history that a flag carrier has seen two wide-body aircraft disappearing in a few months,” said Bertrand Grabowski, head of aviation at DVB Bank, which acts as a banker to Malaysia Airlines.
“The support from the government needs to be more explicit and perhaps more massive.”
Malaysia Airlines has been losing money for many years and its market value has fallen by more than 40% in the past nine months.
Reports suggest that state investment company Khazanah Nasional, the major shareholder in Malaysia Airlines, is looking to take the carrier private.
Khazanah Nasional has invested more than $1 billion into the airline in recent years and had previously indicated that a major restructuring was on the cards.
Analysts said further investment was needed if Malaysia Airlines was to survive in the short term.
Prominent AIDS expert Joep Lange was among up to 100 scientists, activists, researchers and health workers who died in the Malaysia Airlines MH17 crash in Ukraine.
They are thought to have been heading to this year’s international AIDS conference in Australia.
Prof. Joep Lange was a prominent and popular researcher and a former president of the International AIDS Society (IAS).
The IAS representatives said they would have “truly lost a giant”.
Delegates, who have already arrived at the conference in Australia said they were in “total shock”.
More than 14,000 scientists, campaigners and politicians are meeting at the AIDS 2014 conference, which starts in Melbourne at the weekend.
Prof. Joep Lange was a prominent and popular researcher and a former president of the International AIDS Society
Joep Lange, was a professor of medicine at the University of Amsterdam, and has been involved in HIV research since the virus first emerged in the 1980s.
He trialed antiretroviral therapies, which have now transformed HIV into a manageable disease.
Prof. Joep Lange also worked on preventing the virus passing from mother to child during pregnancy and labor.
He is described as a leader in his field, and between 2002 and 2004 was the president of the IAS.
Malaysia Airlines plane, carrying 298 people, crashed in rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine on Thursday.
Prof. Joep Lange’s partner, Jacqueline van Tongeren, was also reportedly on board.
The IAS said the conference would go ahead with “opportunities to reflect and remember those we have lost”.
It added: “The IAS is hearing unconfirmed reports that some of our friends and colleagues were on board the flight and if that is the case this is a truly sad day.
“The IAS has also heard reports that among the passengers was a former IAS president Joep Lange and if that is the case then the HIV/Aids movement has truly lost a giant.”
Another delegate, Glenn Thomas, a media spokesman from the World Health Organization (WHO), was also on board.
WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said: “For the time being we would like to give his family time to grieve.
“We have lost a wonderful person and a great professional. Our hearts are broken. We are all in shock.”
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Malaysia Airlines crash confirmed death toll so far:
Netherlands: 189
Malaysia: 44 (including 15 crew)
Australian: 27
Indonesia: 12
UK: 9
Germany: 4
At least 298 people perished when MH17 crashed in eastern Ukraine
Belgium: 4
Philippines: 3
Canada: 1
New Zealand: 1
Unverified: 4
Total: 298
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Malaysia Airlines steward Sanjid Singh changed shifts to fly on the plane which crashed in Ukraine on Thursday – months after such a swap saved his wife from a similar fate in MH370 tragedy.
Sanjid Singh, 40, was one of the 15 crew members on the Boeing 777 flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. The plane was carrying 298 people.
In an extraordinary twist of fate, Sanjid Singh’s wife, also a flight attendant, had switched from Malaysian jet MH370 which vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8 with 239 passengers on board, according to a report in The Malaysian Insider.
Malaysia Airlines steward Sanjid Singh changed shifts to fly on the plane which crashed in Ukraine
“Sanjid’s wife was meant to fly on MH370 but swapped with another colleague at the last minute,” Jijar Singh, the steward’s father, told the newspaper.
Sanjid Singh lived with his wife and their seven-year-old son in Kuala Lumpur.
“He was last here [in Penang] about a month ago. He told us recently that he swapped with a colleague for the return Amsterdam-Kuala Lumpur flight,” Jijar Singh said.
Jijar Singh said his son had been expected to visit them after his return from Amsterdam.
“His mother had prepared all his favorite dishes,” he said.
Jijar Singh’s daughter, who lives in Italy, informed him of the crash early on Friday, after learning of her brother’s death four hours earlier.
“I have undergone two heart bypasses. Our daughter waited until four in the morning to tell us. She dare not tell us earlier. I am 71 and she [Sanjid’s mother] is 73. We are in such a state. My whole body is shivering,” Jijar Singh told the newspaper.
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Ukrainian authorities intercepted phone conversations between pro-Russian rebels and what appear to be Russian military officers saying that separatists shot down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.
The Ukrainian Security Service put the Russian-language conversations on YouTube within hours of the crash.
However, the veracity of the recordings cannot be confirmed.
First recording
[Male voice, identified as separatist leader Igor Bezler]: The group of the Miner [an alias] has just shot down a plane, which came down just behind Yenakiyevo.
[Col. Vasily Geranin]: Pilots. Where are the pilots?
[Igor Bezler]: Gone to search for and photograph the plane. It’s smoking.
[Second male voice, identified as Russian military intelligence Colonel Vasily Geranin]: How many minutes ago?
[Igor Bezler]: About 30 minutes ago.
Second recording
Ukrainian authorities intercepted phone conversations between pro-Russian rebels and what appear to be Russian military officers saying that separatists shot down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17
[Male voice, captioned as “The Greek”]: Yes, Major.
[Major]: Well, the Chernukhino lads shot down the plane.
[Greek]: Who shot it down?
[Major]: From the Chernukhino roadblock. The Cossacks at Chernukhino.
[Greek]: Yes, Major.
[Major]: Well, the plane fell apart in the air, near the Pertropavlovskaya coal mine. The first casualty 200 [military jargon for dead body] has been found. A civilian.
[Greek]: Well, what do you have there?
[Major]: Basically it was 100% a civilian aircraft.
[Greek]: Are many people there?
[Major] [Curses]: The debris fell right into backyard.
[Greek]: What kind of aircraft?
[Major]: I have not figured this out yet because I haven’t been close to the main body of the debris. I am only looking where the first bodies began to fall. There are the remnants of inner brackets, chairs and bodies there.
[Greek]: I see. Any weaponry there?
[Major]: Nothing at all. Civilian things, medical bits and bobs, towels, toilet paper.
[Greek]: Any documents?
[Major]: Yes. From an Indonesian student. From Thompson University [curses].
Third recording
[Male voice, identified as a fighter]: Regarding the plane shot down in the area of Snezhnoye-Torez. It’s a civilian one. Fell down near Grabovo. There are lots of corpses of women and children. The Cossacks are out there looking at all this.
They say on TV it’s a Ukrainian AN-26 transport plane, but they say it’s got Malaysia Airlines written on the plane. What was it doing in Ukrainian territory?
[Male voice, identified as Cossack commander Nikolai Kozitsyn]: That means they were carrying spies. They shouldn’t be [curses] flying. There is a war going on.
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Pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine have announced they will give international investigators access to the crash site of a Malaysia Airlines jet.
The rebels vowed to secure the site and allow the recovery of bodies, the Organization for the Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said.
Malaysia Airlines plane, carrying 298 people, crashed in rebel-held territory on Thursday.
The two sides in Ukraine’s civil conflict have accused each other of shooting the jet down with a missile.
The Boeing 777 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. It fell between Krasni Luch in Luhansk region and Shakhtarsk in the neighboring region of Donetsk.
Malaysia Airlines said flight MH17 was carrying at least 154 Dutch nationals, 27 Australians, 43 Malaysians (including 15 crew), 12 Indonesians and nine Britons.
Other passengers came from Germany, Belgium, the Philippines and Canada. The dead include world-renowned Dutch researcher Joep Lange who was among a number of passengers en route to an international AIDS conference in Australia.
Pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine have announced they will give international investigators access to the crash site of a Malaysia Airlines jet
It is the second disaster suffered by Malaysia Airlines this year. Flight MH370 disappeared en route from Malaysia to China in March and has still not been found.
The separatists pledged to provide assistance in the crash probe after holding a video conference with senior representatives from the OSCE, Ukraine and Russia.
In a statement, the OSCE said the rebels had agreed to “close off the site of the catastrophe and allow local authorities to start preparations for the recovery of bodies”.
They would also provide “safe access” to international investigators and OSCE monitors and co-operate with Ukrainian authorities.
Ukraine has declared the area a no-fly zone, while other airlines have announced they are now setting flight paths to avoid eastern Ukraine.
Describing the disaster as a “tragic day” in a “tragic year”, Malaysian PM Najib Razak earlier said the investigation “must not be hindered in any way”.
Rescue workers said on Friday they had recovered one of the plane’s black box flight recorders after searching through debris spread across several miles.
The Interfax-Ukraine news agency earlier reported that another black box was found by separatist fighters and handed over to Moscow. Observers say the move, if confirmed, is likely to cause international controversy.
US and Ukrainian officials said they believed the plane had been brought down by a missile – a Buk missile system said to have been used by the rebels in Ukraine before.
Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko called the disaster an “act of terrorism”.
Ukrainian authorities have released what they say are intercepted phone conversations that proved the plane was shot down by pro-Russian separatists.
The rebels were said to have seized the Buk after overrunning a Ukrainian military base.
However, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Vitaliy Yarema has cast doubt on this, telling local media: “The military told the president after the passenger plane had been shot down that the terrorists did not possess our Buk missile systems.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has blamed the Ukraine government for restarting military operations in the area, where it is trying to regain control from pro-Russian rebels.
“The country in whose airspace this happened bears responsibility for it,” he said.
Russia has called for a “thorough and unbiased” investigation, adding that the tragedy also highlighted a need for a swift end to the Ukrainian conflict.
Separatist leader Alexander Borodai also accused the Ukrainian government of downing the airliner.
Ukraine’s defense ministry said there were no air force jets in the area and no surface-to-air systems being used against the rebels.
Ukraine has accused Russia’s military of supplying advanced missiles to the rebels.
Earlier on Thursday, Ukrainian officials blamed the Russian air force for shooting down one of its ground attack jets on Wednesday, and a transport plane on Monday.
The UN Security Council is to hold an emergency meeting on the disaster on Friday morning in New York.
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All 295 people on board of Malaysia Airlines MH17 flight are believed dead as the plane crashed in east Ukraine, amid claims of a missile attack.
There are no signs of survivors on the flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur at the scene of the crash near the village of Grabovo, in rebel-held territory close to the border with Russia.
Both sides in Ukraine’s civil conflict accused each other of shooting down the plane with a missile. It is still not clear why the plane came down.
It is the second disaster suffered by Malaysia Airlines this year.
Flight MH370 disappeared en route from Malaysia to China in April and still has not been found.
At a news conference at Schiphol airport, Malaysia Airlines’ European chief Huib Gorter said that of the passengers that have been identified there were:
- 154 Dutch nationals, 27 Australians, 23 Malaysians, 11 Indonesians
- Six Britons, four Germans, four Belgians, three from the Philippines and one Canadian
- All 15 of the crew were Malaysian
Other airlines have announced they are now avoiding eastern Ukraine.
There are no signs of survivors at the scene of MH17 crash near the village of Grabovo
Malaysian PM Najib Razak spoke of his shock and said he was launching an immediate inquiry into the crash.
“This is a tragic day in what has already been a tragic year for Malaysia,” he said.
US and Ukrainian officials said they believed the plane had been brought down by a missile.
Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko said it was an “act of terrorism”.
Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin also said he had intercepted phone conversations that proved the plane was shot down by pro-Russian separatists.
Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed the Ukraine government for restarting military operations in the area, where it is trying to regain control from pro-Russian rebels.
“The country in whose airspace this happened bears responsibility for it,” he said.
Separatist leader Alexander Borodai accused the Ukrainian government of downing the airliner.
Ukraine’s defense ministry issued a statement saying there were no air force jets in the area and no surface-to-air systems being used against the rebels.
The plane fell between Krasni Luch in Luhansk region and Shakhtarsk in the neighboring region of Donetsk.
At least 100 bodies have been found so far at the scene, an emergency services worker told Reuters news agency, with wreckage spread across an area of up to about 9 miles in diameter.
Broken pieces of the wings were marked with the blue and red paint of Malaysian Airlines.
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Ukrainian authorities have closed the airspace in the east of the country to all airline flights, the European flight safety body, Eurocontrol, has announced.
Eurocontrol said all flight plans that use routes in the area are being rejected.
It follows the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 with 295 people on board, amid claims it was shot down.
Flights already airborne are being routed around the area by air traffic control in the region, a Department for Transport spokesperson said.
Flight MH17 was on a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it came down near the village of Grabovo.
The European Cockpit Association (ECA), which represents more than 38,000 European pilots, said the route flown by the crashed Malaysian aircraft was “the most common route for flights from Europe to South East Asia”.
Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 with 295 people on board crashed in Ukraine, near Russian border
Airline Emirates said its flight EK171 from Dubai to Kiev had returned to Dubai “due to the safety concerns raised with the latest reports on Malaysian flight MH17”.
It added that its flights to Kiev were suspended “with immediate effect, till further notice”.
Emirates said its flights to and from the US and other European destinations used a different route and were outside the zone where the incident involving MH17 occurred.
Lufthansa said it had decided to “fly a wide detour around east Ukrainian airspace with immediate effect”.
The airline said the decision would affect four of its flights on Thursday.
Similarly, Virgin Atlantic said it would re-route “a small number” of its flights on Thursday, following the incident.
British Airways said its flights did not use Ukrainian airspace, with the exception of a once-a-day service between Heathrow and Kiev.
A spokesman for BA said they were keeping those services under review, but that “Kiev is several hundred kilometres from the incident site”.
Abu Dhabi based Etihad said it was unaffected as its planes didn’t fly over the space.
KLM said that as a precautionary measure it already avoided flying over the concerned territory.
And Russian airline Aeroflot said its London to Moscow flights would experience a delay of 30 to 40 minutes on Thursday.
Turkish Airlines has said all of its flights would avoid Ukrainian airspace, while Italy’s Alitalia and Air France said they would divert their flights away from eastern Ukrainian airspace.
France’s junior transport minister Frederic Cuvillier said he had told “French airlines to avoid Ukraine’s air space as long as the reasons behind this catastrophe are not known.”
Flight MH17 had been due to enter Russian airspace when contact was lost.
Both the Ukrainian government and rebels have denied shooting it down in the region close to the Russian border.
Eurocontrol said the aircraft had been flying at Flight Level 330 (approximately 33,000 feet) when it disappeared from the radar.
This route had been closed by the Ukrainian authorities from ground to flight level 320 but had been open at the height level at which the aircraft was flying.
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A Malaysia Airlines plane reportedly with 295 people on board has crashed in Ukraine near the Russian border, on a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysia Airlines said it had lost contact with Flight MH17 from Amsterdam and the last known position was over Ukraine, it said in a tweet.
Malaysia Airlines MH17 plane has been found burning on the ground in east Ukraine
An aviation source in Moscow told Reuters the plane had been found burning on the ground in east Ukraine.
Pro-Russian separatist rebels have been fighting government forces in the region.
A number of Ukrainian military planes have been shot down by missiles in recent weeks, with Ukraine accusing Russia’s military of supplying advanced missiles to the rebels.
Earlier on Thursday, Ukrainian officials accused the Russian air force of shooting down one of its ground attack jets on Wednesday.
Anton Herashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, was quoted by the Associated Press as saying the plane had been hit by a missile at an altitude of 33,000ft. The claim could not be verified independently.
The source which spoke to Reuters said the plane had failed to enter Russian airspace.
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Australian government has announced a new search area for the missing Malaysian plane after further analysis of satellite data.
The search will now shift south to focus on an area 1,100 miles off the west coast of Australia, Deputy PM Warren Truss confirmed.
Flight MH370 vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8 with 239 passengers on board.
Officials said they believed the plane had been on autopilot when it crashed.
The search for missing MH370 flight will now shift south to focus on an area 1,100 miles off the west coast of Australia
A 64-page report released by the Australian government concluded that the underwater search for the plane should resume in the new area.
An extensive search of the ocean floor was conducted in April after several acoustic pings, initially thought to be from the plane’s flight data recorders, were heard. However, officials now believe the pings were not caused by the plane.
“It is highly, highly likely that the aircraft was on autopilot otherwise it could not have followed the orderly path that has been identified through the satellite sightings,” Warren Truss said.
The underwater search for the plane was put on hold to allow more time for survey vessels to map the ocean floor.
The new search is expected to commence in August and is expected to be completed within a year, Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) chief Martin Dolan confirmed.
Submarines will scour the ocean floor to look for signs of the missing Boeing 777.
The search for the missing plane is already among most expensive in aviation history.
After more than 100 days since the disappearance of the airliner, many of the relatives of the missing passengers have continued to express frustration at the lack of progress in the search.
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The search for missing Malaysian jet MH370 will move hundreds of miles south, officials have said.
The new phase of hunt will focus on an area 1,100 miles off the city of Perth, Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) chief Martin Dolan said.
Nearby areas were previously surveyed from the air, but the undersea hunt was directed north after pings were heard.
The jet vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Malaysia on March 8 with 239 passengers on board.
Experts had hoped that the pings detected shortly after the plane vanished were from its flight-data recorders.
The search for missing Malaysian jet MH370 will move hundreds of miles south
After weeks of searching the ocean floor, it was concluded that the noises were unrelated to the plane.
Search teams have now returned to the initial satellite data to frame the new search area.
“All the trends of this analysis will move the search area south of where it was,” Martin Dolan said.
“Just how much south is something that we’re still working on.”
He said it was unlikely that the new search area would be as far from land as the aerial surveys had been.
Before search teams can start looking for the plane, the seabed will be mapped.
A Dutch firm has been contracted to carry out a detailed survey of the ocean floor.
The sea in the area is 3.8 miles deep, and the analysis is expected to take three months.
Many of the relatives of the missing passengers have been frustrated by the lack of progress in the search.
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Families of MH370 passengers have begun to receive initial compensation payments of $50,000.
So far six Malaysian families and one Chinese family have received the money, and insurers are assessing the claims of 40 more Chinese families.
Relatives of all 239 missing passengers can claim up to $175,000 each.
Flight MH370 went missing on March 8 as it flew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. No trace of the plane has been found.
Families of MH370 passengers have begun to receive initial compensation payments of $50,000 (photo Getty Images)
Malaysian deputy foreign minister Hamzah Zainudin stressed that the government has not yet declared the plane lost.
“When we talk about the full payment, we have to wait until we announce the issue on the tragedy MH370 is over,” he said.
Malaysia Airlines’ insurer, a consortium led by Germany’s Allianz, is making the payments.
Many of the relatives also refuse to accept that their relatives may be dead.
A group of families has joined together to raise $5 million to investigate the plane’s disappearance and encourage anyone who might have information to come forward.
A massive search operation conducted in seas hundreds of miles from any land has failed to find any debris from the plane.
Experts are continuing to survey the sea floor and are bringing in specialist equipment.
They believe the jet ended its journey in the Indian Ocean, hundreds of miles north-west of the Australian city of Perth.
According to the Australian officials, the area where acoustic signals thought linked to the missing Malaysian plane were detected can now be ruled out as the final resting place of flight MH370.
The Bluefin-21 submersible robot had finished its search of the area and found nothing, they said.
Efforts would now focus on reviewing search data, surveying the sea floor and bringing in specialist equipment.
Flight MH370 went missing on March 8 as it flew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
Using satellite data, officials have concluded that the airliner, which had 239 people on board, ended its journey in the Indian Ocean, north-west of the Australian city of Perth.
No trace of the plane has been found and there is no explanation for its disappearance.
Four pings that officials believed could be from the missing plane’s “black box” flight recorders were heard by search teams using a towed pinger locator device.
The area where acoustic signals thought linked to the missing Malaysian plane were detected can now be ruled out as the final resting place of flight MH37
These pings were used to define the area for the sea-floor search, conducted by the Bluefin-21. It had scoured over 850 sq km of the ocean floor, JACC said.
“Yesterday afternoon, Bluefin-21 completed its last mission searching the remaining areas in the vicinity of the acoustic signals detected in early April by the towed pinger locator,” a statement from the Joint Agency Co-ordination Centre (JACC) said.
“The data collected on yesterday’s mission has been analyzed. As a result, the JACC can advise that no signs of aircraft debris have been found by the autonomous underwater vehicle since it joined the search effort.
“The Australian Transport Safety Bureau [ATSB] has advised that the search in the vicinity of the acoustic detections can now be considered complete and in its professional judgement, the area can now be discounted as the final resting place of MH370.”
The statement came hours after a US Navy official told CNN that the acoustic signals probably came from some other man-made source.
“Our best theory at this point is that [the pings were] likely some sound produced by the ship… or within the electronics of the towed pinger locator,” Michael Dean, the US Navy’s deputy director of ocean engineering, told CNN.
“Always your fear any time you put electronic equipment in the water is that if any water gets in and grounds or shorts something out, that you could start producing sound,” Michael Dean said.
A US Navy spokesmen subsequently described his comments as “speculative and premature”.
In its statement, JACC said an expert working group would continue to review and refine existing data to better define a search area for the missing plane.
A Chinese ship had already begun mapping an area of ocean floor in a survey process that was expected to take three months.
Meanwhile, the ATSB would soon seek bids from commercial contractors for the specialist equipment needed for the underwater search – a process expected to begin in August, JACC said.
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Malaysia has released the raw data used to determine that the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 crashed into the southern Indian Ocean.
The data was first released to relatives of passengers, who have been asking for greater transparency, before copies were also provided to media.
The document released on Tuesday comprises 47 pages of data, plus notes, from British firm Inmarsat.
Flight MH370 went missing on March 8 as it flew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
Malaysia has released the raw data used to determine that the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 crashed into the southern Indian Ocean
There were 239 people, mostly Chinese nationals, on board. No trace of the aircraft has been found, nor any reason for its disappearance.
The satellite data released includes the hourly “handshakes” between the plane and a communications satellite that led investigators to conclude that the plane ended its journey far off Australia.
“Inmarsat and the DCA have been working for the release of the data communication logs and the technical description of the analysis,” Malaysia’s civil aviation authority said in a statement.
Meanwhile, a sea-bed search for the missing plane is continuing in waters far west of the Australian city of Perth.
The robotic submarine Bluefin-21, on loan from the US, is still being operated off the Australian vessel Ocean Shield.
The Bluefin-21, which can identify objects by creating a sonar map of the sea floor, restarted its mission last week after experiencing technical problems.
It is expected to leave the search area on Wednesday and return to base on 31 May, said a previous statement from Australia’s Joint Agency Coordination Centre, which is leading the search.
The Bluefin-21 completed the initial search of the area where acoustic signals thought to be from flight recorders were heard without finding anything concrete.
The Australian government is now preparing for a fresh deep-sea search using commercially-contracted equipment.
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Rupesh Paul has revealed he is making a movie about missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.
Speaking at this year’s Cannes film festival, the Indian film director told the Hollywood Reporter the drama – titled The Vanishing Act – “will not affect any passengers’ families”.
The search is continuing for the Boeing 777 plane, which disappeared on March 8 with 239 people on board.
Rupesh Paul’s movie about missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, The Vanishing Act, has been promoted at this year’s Cannes Film Festival (photo YouTube)
The film is expected to be ready for an autumn release date. Rupesh Paul insisted he was not exploiting the ongoing search.
“The controversy will help indirectly, but we are not cashing in on the flight,” he said.
Rupesh Paul added there had been a lot of interest in the film, particularly from Asian markets.
The director is in Cannes to promote several of his films.
Rupesh Paul wrote the screenplay in 20 days based on a Malaysian journalist’s theory about what happened.
The journalist is one of the film’s investors and wants to remain anonymous for now.
The film budget is $3.5 million.
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Malaysia Airlines’ losses widen after flight MH 370 vanished over two months ago, raising questions about the future of the 76-year-old carrier.
The company’s net loss rose by 59% to 443 million ringgit ($138 million) in the January-to-March period, marking its fifth straight quarter of losses.
Malaysia Airlines attributed it to “tough operating conditions” and “negative sentiment”.
Investors shrugged off the news with shares rising 2.4%.
Only 30% of the company is able to be bought freely on the stock exchange in Kuala Lumpur, with the rest held by state investment firm Khazanah Nasional.
Malaysia Airlines’ losses widen after flight MH 370 vanished over two months ago
Of the 30% that trades on Malaysia’s stock exchange, most of that is owned by the country’s pension funds and other institutions, leaving a small proportion for retail investors to trade.
Overall though, Malaysia Airlines has lost more than 40% of its market value this year.
Flight MH370 went missing on March 8 while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, leading to a massive search and rescue operation that is still ongoing and may cost millions of dollars.
The Malaysian government believes the plane ended its journey in the Indian Ocean, but no trace of the plane or wreckage has been found so far.
The crisis led to a high number of cancellations and reputational damage to the carrier, including a 60% drop in sales from China.
About two-thirds of the 239 people on board MH370 were from China, prompting boycotts by some travel agents on the Mainland.
Malaysia Airlines chief executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said the disappearance of MH370 added to its poor results, which were “not unexpected”.
“The results were made worse with the impact on air travel in general following the disappearance of MH370. The whole market has reacted by slowing down demand,” he said in a statement.
The company “needs to accelerate efforts to improve its revenue stream and better manage our high costs which have increased” he added.
“This need has become even more urgent for Malaysia Airlines’ future survival and sustainability in a market that is not showing any signs of letting up on competition.”
Malaysia Airlines has been struggling in the face of high fuel prices, foreign exchange fluctuations and increased competition from budget carriers in the region.
“Further efforts need to be made to manage fuel costs which increased 14% despite a decrease in jet fuel price,” the company said.
Malaysia Airlines has racked up losses of more than $1.3 billion over the last three years and analysts expect that to rise further.
Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said at a news conference on Thursday that the government has no plans to financially bail out Malaysia Airlines.
Malaysia Airlines said much of the costs associated with the disappearance of MH370 will be covered by insurance.
However, the mounting red ink has increased speculation it may be forced to file for bankruptcy or possibly be broken up even though it is majority-owned by Malaysia’s state investment firm
Despite the grim outlook, Malaysia’s airline chief plans to continue with the company’s turnaround effort.
“We still have much work ahead of us to deal with the reality of the business and competition as a dynamic and nimble operation,” he said.
“MH370 has brought out the best of our Malaysia Airlines team to stand united to face the crisis. We will be leveraging on this team spirit to fight for our future.”
A full search of the suspected crash area of Malaysia airliner MH370 could take up to a year, officials said.
Speaking in Malaysia, Australia’s ACM Angus Houston said he was confident an “effective search” would find the plane.
Officials from Australia, China and Malaysia will meet in Canberra next week to discuss the ongoing search.
On Thursday a report revealed a four-hour gap between MH370’s disappearance and the start of a search operation.
The preliminary report, from Malaysia’s transport ministry, also revealed that air traffic controllers did not realize the plane was missing until 17 minutes after it disappeared off radar.
The plane, carrying 239 people, disappeared over the South China Sea as it flew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
A full search of the suspected crash area of Malaysia airliner MH370 could take up to a year (photo Reuters)
Officials believe it ended its journey in seas west of the Australian city of Perth, thousands of kilometers off course, but do not yet know why. An intensive multinational search has so far turned up no sign of the plane.
Earlier this week, Australia announced that the operation was entering a new phase, after an initial search of the area where acoustic signals thought to be from “black box” flight recorders were heard found nothing.
Next week’s meeting in Australia will help determine what happens next.
“That’s a very important meeting because it will formalize the way ahead to ensure that this search continues with urgency and doesn’t stop at any stage,” said Angus Houston.
The aerial search for floating wreckage has been called off. The search of the sea floor will be expanded in the area where officials believe – based on satellite data – that the plane crashed.
“The search will take probably in the order of eight months, maybe eight to 12 months if we have bad weather or other issues,” Angus Huston said.
“But we’re totally committed to find MH370 and I’m confident that with an effective search we will eventually find the aircraft.”
Late on Thursday, Malaysian officials released their preliminary report on the missing airliner.
According to the draft, Vietnamese air traffic controllers contacted their counterparts in Kuala Lumpur at 01:38 to say MH370 was missing, 17 minutes after it disappeared off radar.
The official search-and-rescue operation was launched four hours later, at 05:30.
The report also recommended the introduction of real-time tracking of commercial air transport, saying there had now been two recent occasions when large planes had gone missing with their last position unclear – MH370 and Air France Flight 447 in 2009.
“This uncertainty resulted in significant difficulty in locating the aircraft in a timely manner,” the report noted.
There is no requirement from the International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO), the UN body that oversees global aviation, for real-time tracking.
Malaysia Airlines, meanwhile, has asked relatives of passengers to leave the hotel accommodation it has been providing and go home.
The airline said it was “deeply sympathetic to the continuing unimaginable anguish, distress and hardship suffered by those with loved ones on board the flight”.
It warned that the continuing search would be a “prolonged process” and said relatives should wait for updates “within the comfort of their own homes”.
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The Australian team co-ordinating the search for the missing Malaysian plane have played down marine survey company GeoResonance’s claim it has identified possible debris.
The Australia-based company said on Tuesday it might have located the wreckage of a plane.
But the agency leading the search said the area was not consistent with satellite data showing MH370’s likely flight path.
MH370 went missing on March 8 as it flew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
Carrying 239 people, it disappeared off radar over the South China Sea. Based on satellite data, investigators believe it ended its journey in the sea far off the Australian city of Perth.
It is still not known why the plane went so far off course. Finding the “black box” flight recorders is seen as key to explaining what happened.
Australia-based marine survey company GeoResonance said on Tuesday it might have located the wreckage of a plane
Search efforts so far have focused on a “southern corridor” that the plane could have flown, based on calculations derived from “pings” the aircraft emitted after it disappeared off radar.
A robotic submersible has been scouring the sea floor in an area north-west of Perth after acoustic signals consistent with flight recorders were heard.
The possible wreckage identified by GeoResonance, however, was in the Bay of Bengal to the south of Bangladesh.
The company said it had used proven technology to search for a seafloor location where all the elements that comprise a Boeing 777 – such as titanium, copper, jet fuel residue – were present.
“The company is not declaring this is MH370, however it should be investigated,” it said.
It said it had passed the information on to relevant authorities in late March and early April.
In a statement, Australia’s Joint Agency Co-ordination Centre (JACC) said the Bay of Bengal location was not within the data-indicated search area.
“The joint international team is satisfied that the final resting place of the missing aircraft is in the southerly portion of the search arc,” it said.
Malaysian Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said his country was “working with its international partners to assess the credibility of this information”.
Meanwhile, the search for Malaysia Airlines plane off Perth is continuing. The Bluefin-21, the robotic submersible, was due to embark on another underwater search mission when weather conditions eased, JACC said.
The air search for surface debris has ended, however. Australian PM Tony Abbott said on Monday that wreckage would most likely have sunk by now.
A “new phase” of the operation involving a more intensive underwater search was the planned strategy for the weeks ahead, Tony Abbott said.
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Australian officials have announced that the underwater search for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane could widen from its focused area in the Indian Ocean.
The Bluefin-21 submersible has completed 95% of its search in the area where possible signals from the plane’s flight recorder were heard on April 8.
If nothing is found, the Bluefin-21 will move to an adjacent area, the agency co-ordinating the search said.
Meanwhile, Malaysia said a report on the plane could be released next week.
Flight MH370 went missing on March 8 as it flew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people – mostly Chinese nationals – on board.
The underwater search for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane could widen from its focused area in the Indian Ocean
Using satellite data, officials have concluded that MH370 ended its journey in waters north-west of the Australian city of Perth.
However, the ongoing multi-national search for the missing plane has yet to yield anything concrete. The daily operation is already shaping up to be the most expensive in aviation history.
The robotic submarine Bluefin-21, operated by the US Navy off the Australian vessel Ocean Shield, is an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) that can identify objects by creating a sonar map of the sea floor.
It is operating at a depth of more than 13,000 feet.
The AUV has been mapping the area of the sea bed within a 10km (6.25 mile) radius of where acoustic signals believed to have come from the aircraft’s flight recorder were detected.
On Friday Australia’s Joint Agency Co-ordination Centre (JACC) said in a statement that the AUV had “completed approximately 95% of the focused underwater search area”.
“If no contacts of interest are made, Bluefin-21 will continue to examine the areas adjacent to the 10km radius,” JACC said.
“We are currently consulting very closely with our international partners on the best way to continue the search into the future,” JACC added.
Authorities still do not know why the plane went off course and finding the flight recorders is seen as key to understanding what happened.
Meanwhile, Malaysian PM Najib Razak told CNN on Thursday that there was “a likelihood” the report on the investigation into the missing plane could be released next week.
Malaysian officials said on Wednesday that the UN’s International Civil Aviation Organization already had a copy of the report.
In China, relatives of passengers on the missing flight held another protest outside the Malaysian Embassy in Beijing, after Malaysian officials failed to update them on the search.
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Australian authorities are examining material washed ashore to determine if it is related to missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
The debris was found by a member of the public near the town of Augusta, some 190 miles south of Perth.
Images of the debris have been sent to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), which is now investigating.
“It’s sufficiently interesting for us to take a look,” an ATSB chief Martin Dolan told CNN.
Martin Dolan said the debris looked like sheet metal with rivets in it, but added: “The more we look at it, the less excited we get.”
The ATSB confirmed it was examining the photographs “to determine whether further physical analysis is required and if there is any relevance to the search of missing flight MH370”.
The images have also been sent to authorities in Malaysia and the ATSB is expected to collect the material later on Wednesday.
The material was metallic and about 8ft long, ABC News reported.
The debris was found by a member of the public near the town of Augusta, some 190 miles south of Perth
The Malaysia Airlines aircraft was carrying 239 people from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing when it disappeared in March.
Malaysia is running the investigation into the plane’s disappearance, but search efforts are being led by Australia’s Joint Agency Co-ordination Centre (JACC).
For the past two days, bad weather has prevented planes from taking part in the search about 990 miles north-west of Perth.
The US Navy Bluefin-21 mini-submarine scanning the ocean bed has covered more than 80% of a120 sq mile search area in the southern Indian Ocean, without finding any sign of debris in water.
Up to 10 military aircraft and 12 ships are currently taking part in the hunt. The daily operation, involving some two dozen nations, is already shaping up to be the most expensive in aviation history.
Australia said on Wednesday that it would not abandon the hunt, insisting that the cost of the operation was not a concern.
Australian PM Tony Abbott said if the current underwater search was unsuccessful, a new strategy would begin.
Defense Minister David Johnston has said that sophisticated sonar equipment will probably be used in the next stage.
“The next phase, I think, is that we step up with potentially a more powerful, more capable side-scan sonar to do deeper water,” David Johnston said.
Tony Abbott said the probable impact zone of the airliner was in an area of the sea floor 430 miles long and 50 miles wide.
In a separate development, Malaysian Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said that his country’s cabinet had approved the formation of an international investigation team to find out what happened to the missing plane.
“The main purpose of the team is to evaluate, investigate and determine the actual cause of the accident so similar accidents could be avoided in the future,” he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur.
Australia says that it is now consulting with Malaysia, China and the US on the next phase of the search, which is likely to be announced next week.
Tony Abbott said a new search strategy would be put into action if nothing was found in the current seabed search.
“If at the end of that period we find nothing, we are not going to abandon the search, we may well rethink the search, but we will not rest until we have done everything we can to solve this mystery,” he said.
“We owe it to the families of the 239 people on board, we owe it to the hundreds of millions – indeed billions – of people who travel by air to try to get to the bottom of this.”
“The only way we can get to the bottom of this is to keep searching the probable impact zone until we find something or until we have searched it as thoroughly as human ingenuity allows at this time,” Tony Abbott said.
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Malaysia’s acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein has announced that the search area for the missing MH370 plane has narrowed and will be at “a critical juncture” in the next two days.
Hishammuddin Hussein said underwater drone Bluefin-21 would finish searching the area within the next week.
The Bluefin 21 mini-submarine has so far found nothing after six missions.
Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 went missing on March 8 as it flew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing carrying 239 people.
The Bluefin is mapping the area of the sea bed within 6 miles radius of where acoustic signals were detected believed to have come from the aircraft’s flight recorder.
It is operating at a depth of more than 13,000 feet.
The Bluefin 21 mini-submarine searching for missing Malaysia Airlines plane has so far found nothing after six missions
Hishammuddin Hussein said it was important to focus on the search on Saturday and Sunday.
“The narrowing of the search for today and tomorrow is at a critical juncture,” he said.
“I appeal to everyone around the world to pray and pray hard that we find something to work on in the next couple of days.”
Using satellite data, officials have concluded that the MH370 ended its journey in seas west of the Australian city of Perth.
They do not know why the plane flew so far off course and finding the plane’s flight recorders is seen as key to understanding what happened.
The Bluefin-21, operated by the US Navy off the Australian vessel Ocean Shield, is an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) that can identify objects by creating a sonar map of the sea floor.
It is searching in an area defined by four acoustic signals picked up by an Australian search team, and was deployed after officials concluded that the batteries on the plane’s flight recorders would likely have expired, given their one-month shelf life.
Submersible Bluefin-21 has an operating depth of 4,500m (15,000ft) and on its first mission a built-in safety device returned it to the surface after it exceeded that depth.
The authorities have now adjusted the device to allow it to go as deep as 4,695m.
The Joint Agency Co-ordination Centre (JACC) said on Thursday that the machine could operate deeper than 4,500m at “a small but acceptable level of risk”.
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Mini-submarine Bluefin-21 searching for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane has completed a full mission at its third attempt.
Two previous missions to scour the floor of the Indian Ocean for wreckage were cut short by technical problems.
The data from the sub’s latest mission is being analyzed. Previous forays have not shown anything significant.
It is searching in the area acoustic signals thought to be from the missing plane’s “black box” flight recorders were heard.
Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disappeared on March 8 as it flew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
Using satellite data, officials have concluded that it ended its journey in seas west of the Australian city of Perth.
Bluefin-21 searching for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane has completed a full mission at its third attempt
They do not know why the plane flew so far off course and an investigation is ongoing. Finding the plane’s flight recorders are seen as key to understanding what happened.
The Bluefin-21, operated by the US Navy off the Australian vessel Ocean Shield, is an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) that can identify objects by creating a sonar map of the sea floor.
It is searching in an area defined by four acoustic signals picked up by an Australian search team, and was deployed after officials concluded that the batteries on the plane’s flight recorders would likely have expired, given their one-month shelf life.
The submersible has an operating depth of 15,000ft and on its first mission a built-in safety device returned it to the surface after it exceeded that depth.
Its second mission was also cut short because of unspecified technical difficulties, but the third mission – a full 16 hours, plus two hours each way for diving and surfacing – went according to plan.
“Overnight Bluefin-21 AUV completed a full mission in the search area and is currently planning for its next mission,” the Joint Agency Co-ordination Centre (JACC) said in a statement.
“Bluefin-21 has searched approximately 90 square kilometres to date and the data from its latest mission is being analyzed.”
JACC also said that an oil sample collected in the area the acoustic signals were heard had arrived in Perth for testing.
“We will provide details of the results when they become available,” it said.
Officials have warned that the search for wreckage on the sea floor could take weeks or months.
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Bluefin-21 robotic mini submarine deployed to search for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane in the southern Indian Ocean has had its first mission cut short.
The drone was sent to search the sea floor for wreckage after signals believed to be consistent with “black box” flight recorders were detected.
The Bluefin-21 exceeded its operating limit of 15,000ft and was brought back to the surface.
It was due to return later on Tuesday if weather conditions permitted.
“To account for inconsistencies with the sea floor, the search profile is being adjusted to extend the sonar search for as long as possible,” an update from the US Navy – which operates the Bluefin-21 – said.
The Bluefin-21 exceeded its operating limit of 15,000ft and was brought back to the surface
The US Navy said in a later update that no objects of interest were found when the six hours of data were downloaded and analyzed.
Flight MH370 went missing on March 8 with 239 people on board. It was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing when it lost contact with air traffic controllers over the South China Sea.
Malaysian officials believe, based on satellite data, that it ended its flight thousands of miles off course, in seas west of the Australian city of Perth.
Amid a major international search, an Australian navy vessel last week detected four acoustic signals using a US Navy towed pinger locator. Officials believe these could come from the missing plane’s flight recorders.
No signals have been detected since 8 April, however, leading to fears that the recorders’ batteries – which last about a month – have run out.
Bluefin-21 is an almost 5m-long vehicle that can create a sonar map of the sea floor. On Monday officials said each mission was expected to last 24 hours, with 16 hours spent on the ocean floor, four hours’ diving and resurfacing time, and four hours to download data.
The submersible has a safety feature that brings it to the surface if it exceeds its performance capabilities, however.
The sea where the Bluefin-21 is searching is estimated to be about 4,500m deep, but experts say there could be variations on the sea floor.
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