By Sean Harshman
Correspondent
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced on Monday, March 24, that Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 sank, according to BBC News.
Razak stated in a press conference, “It is with deep sadness and regret that I must inform you that, according to this new data, Flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean.”
AP Photo.
This new data came from Inmarsat, a British company that was hired to investigate the disappearance. Using various methods, the company has deduced that there was no way the aircraft could have made it to land and without a doubt, it had crashed into the Indian Ocean, according to BBC News.
Inmarsat was able to localize the area where the flight could have gone using electronic signals emitted from the plane’s black box, commonly known as “pings.” The company revealed Monday that they had received pings up to five hours after the plane went missing.
The Washington Post reported that the Malaysian government sent out notification to the families of the 227 passengers of Flight MH370 before the announcement at the press conference.
“Malaysia Airlines deeply regrets that we have to assume beyond any reasonable doubt that MH370 has been lost and that none of those on board survived,” the text message read. “As you will hear in the next hour from Malaysia’s Prime Minister, we must now accept all evidence suggests the plane went down in the Southern Indian Ocean.”
BBC News reported that even though Inmarsat and the Malaysian government have deduced the fate of the plane, the search for wreckage continues. As of midnight on Monday, March 24, four new aircrafts have joined the search for the wreckage. After Chinese satellite spotted a large object in the Southern Corridor, China and Japan added two planes each to the search effort, which previously composed of six aircraft.
Including crewmembers, there were 239 people aboard the flight, which was on its way from Beijing to Kuala Lumpur.
