Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak held a special emergency press conference on new developments on the missing plane and reportedly had a private meeting with the families 30 mins before. The families of the missing passengers have been offered flights to Australia, according to Sky News.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak says "with great sadness" data now confirms that the aircraft's last position was in the Indian Ocean south of Perth.
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more information about the search for the plane will be given on Tuesday.
This evening I was briefed by representatives from the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB). They informed me that Inmarsat, the UK company that provided the satellite data which indicated the northern and southern corridors, has been performing further calculations on the data. Using a type of analysis never before used in an investigation of this sort, they have been able to shed more light on MH370’s flight path.
Based on their new analysis, Inmarsat and the AAIB have concluded that MH370 flew along the southern corridor, and that its last position was in the middle of the Indian Ocean, west of Perth.
This is a remote location, far from any possible landing sites. It is therefore with deep sadness and regret that I must inform you that, according to this new data, flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean.
We will be holding a press conference tomorrow with further details. In the meantime, we wanted to inform you of this new development at the earliest opportunity. We share this information out of a commitment to openness and respect for the families, two principles which have guided this investigation.
Malaysia Airlines have already spoken to the families of the passengers and crew to inform them of this development. For them, the past few weeks have been heartbreaking; I know this news must be harder still. I urge the media to respect their privacy, and to allow them the space they need at this difficult time.
Message sent by the Malaysian Airline to the families:
"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. 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."
Earlier reports hinted at the development.
Reports that suspected MH370 debris has been picked up is a major breakthrough in the search for the missing plane that has become a matter of national concern for the countries involved.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority can advise objects have been located by a Royal Australian Air Force P3 Orion.
HMAS Success is on scene and is attempting to locate the objects in the search for missing Malaysia Aircraft flight MH370.
The objects were spotted in the search area about 2500 kilometres south-west of Perth by the RAAF Orion about 2.45pm (AEDT).
The crew on board the Orion reported seeing two objects – the first a grey or green circular object and the second an orange rectangular object.
The objects identified by the RAAF Orion are separate to the objects reported by the Chinese Ilyushin IL-76 to AMSA earlier today.
HMAS Success a Durance class multi-product replenishment oiler serving in the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).
Australian, Chinese and French satellite images have all picked up what might be large pieces of debris from the missing aircraft, which was carrying 239 passengers and crew, and aircraft scanning the area have spotted what might be pallets and cargo straps.
Reuters reports
In a further sign the search may be bearing fruit, the U.S. Navy is flying in its high-tech black box detector to the area.
The so-called black boxes - the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder - record what happens on board planes in flight. At crash sites, finding the black boxes soon is crucial because the locator beacons they carry fade out after 30 days.
"If debris is found we will be able to respond as quickly as possible since the battery life of the black box's pinger is limited," Commander Chris Budde, U.S. Seventh Fleet Operations Officer, said in an emailed statement.
Australia's prime minister has confirmed that the ship HMAS is trying to recover the two new objects spotted by search plane.
In a statement to parliament, Tony Abbott cautioned that the objects may turn out to be unrelated to the missing Malaysian Airlines plane. He said:
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority has advised that objects have been located by a Royal Australian Air Force P3 Orion and I can advise the House that HMAS Success is on scene and is attempting to locate and recover these objects.
The objects were spotted in the search area about 2500 kilometres southwest of Perth at about 2.45pm our time.
The crew on board the Orion reported seeing two objects, the first a grey or green circular object and the second an orange rectangular object. These are separate to the objects reported earlier today by a Chinese search aircraft.
I can advise the House that US Navy Poseidon, a second Royal Australian Air Force Orion and a Japanese Orion are also on route to or in the search area. Planes and ships continue to search the area for any sign of the missing aircraft.
I caution again, Mr Acting Deputy Speaker, that we don’t know whether any of these objects are from MH370. They could be flotsam. Nevertheless we are hopeful that we can recover these objects soon and that they will take us a step closer to resolving this tragic mystery.