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The communications systems of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 were deliberately disabled,
Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak has said.
According to satellite and radar evidence, he said, the plane then changed course and
could have continued flying for a further seven hours.
He said the "movements are consistent with the deliberate action of someone on the plane".
The plane disappeared a week ago with 239 people on board.
The Kuala Lumpur-Beijing flight last made contact with air traffic control as it headed
east towards the South China Sea, about one hour after take-off.
Mr Razak told a news conference that new satellite evidence shows "with a high degree of certainty"
that the aircraft's communications systems were disabled just before it reached the east
coast of Malaysia. According to a military radar, the flight
then turned and flew back over Malaysia before turning north-west.
A satellite was able to pick up a signal from the plane for some seven hours after it lost
radar contact, although it was unable to give a precise location, Mr Razak said.
He went on to say that based on this new data, investigators "have determined the plane's
last communication with a satellite was in one of two possible corridors":
a northern corridor stretching from the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan through to
northern Thailand a southern corridor stretching from Indonesia
to the southern Indian Ocean Mr Razak said that in light of the new evidence,
the investigation had "entered a new phase" and would focus on the crew and passengers
on board. Addressing reports that the plane had been
hijacked, he said only "we are still investigating all possibilities as to what caused MH370
to deviate". The families on board the flight have endured
an agonising wait for news since the plane disappeared on 8 March.
An extensive search of the seas around Malaysia - involving 14 countries, 43 ships and 58
aircraft - have proved fruitless. Mr Razak's news conference goes some way to
addressing the speculation that had begun circulating in local media that the plane
had been hijacked and had somehow landed intact.