By Derick Deonarain
In a sombre news conference Monday, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 had crashed into the southern Indian Ocean.
Razak also said there were no survivors among the 239 people on board the flight.
He said searchers had used a new form of data analysis that had never been used before in a search for a missing plane.
The results from the British Inmarsat and the U.K’s Air Accident Investigation Branch determined the aircraft was lost in a remote area of the Indian Ocean, west of Perth.
Flight MH370 disappeared on March 8, en route from Kuala Lumpur International Airport to Beijing Capital International Airport.
Razak said the flight’s last position was far from any possible landing sites.
The families of passengers on flight MH370 were briefed in an emergency meeting prior to the news conference.
“For them, the past few weeks have been heartbreaking,” Razak added.
While analysis of the satellite data concluded the missing jet “ended” its flight in the Indian Ocean, Malaysian officials have not indicated what happened with the jet in its final hours, where the fuselage might be now or if they will ever be able to find the plane in the ocean’s waters.
“I don’t know if I have the answers to that or if I’d be able to comment on the physical oceanography [of the Indian Ocean],” Chris Beaumont, a professor at Dalhousie University’s Department of Oceanography, told Humber News.
The ocean depth in the search area for MH370 is said to range between 1,150 metres and 7,000 metres.
An infographic look at estimated depths of the Indian Ocean in comparison to the tallest structures across the globe.
Razak said Malaysian officials are going to hold another press conference with further details on flight MH370 on Tuesday.
Despite the lack of information from Monday’s announcement, some people remain confident that more will be revealed in the coming days.
“I think we’ll definitely get some answers as far as the black box and what happened in the last moments of the jet if they can find it within the week,” said Duy Tran, a geomatic engineer at York University told Humber News.
Tran, who studies and develops global positioning systems, said the black box is designed for gathering information during a flight and can be used for assessment after an accident. It is stored close to the tail of an aircraft.
“The boxes are meant to take quite a beating with high temperatures, pressure and falls,” he explained.
“Even though there’s a lot of mystery that still surrounds this whole situation, I’m sure there’ll be more news and developments as we move forward.”