Live report on Malaysia Airlines flight MH370

Malaysian government will accept written questions which "will be answered as soon as possible."

High-Level delegation is leaving for Beijing later Tuesday.

Data & Technology

Doppler effect - In recent days Inmarsat developed a second innovative technique which considers the velocity of the aircraft relative to the satellite. Depending on this relative movement, the frequency received and transmitted will differ from its normal value, in much the same way that the sound of a passing car changes as it approaches and passes by.

Burst Frequency Offset - The Inmarsat technique analyses the difference between the frequency that the ground station expects to receive and one that is actually measured. This difference is the result of the Doppler effect and is known as the Burst Frequency Offset.

Data analysis showed poor correlation with the Northern corridor, but good correlation with the Southern corridor.

The new analysis was convincing enough for the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) to brief the Prime Minister that MH370 flew along the southern corridor, and that its last position was in the middle of the Indian Ocean, west of Perth.

Search

All search efforts now concentrate on southern part of 'Southern Corridor.'

The American Towed Pinger Locater – an instrument that can help find a black box - is currently en route to Perth and will arrive tomorrow.

Six Chinese ships are currently in the search area. They are expected to arrive within the vicinity of MH370's last known position by tomorrow morning. These ships include the Chinese ice breaker XueLong.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott declared that the search for flight MH370 was now moving into a recovery and investigation stage, and said the country was handing investigation back to Malaysia.

"Based on the accumulation of evidence, late last night, Prime Minister Najib Razak of Malaysia declared that the plane must be declared lost in the southern Indian Ocean," Abbott (pic) was quoted by the Sydney Morning Herald, speaking at the Australian parliament this afternoon.

Day 17

The BBC said on its website that it saw a text message sent to families saying it had to be assumed "beyond reasonable doubt" that the plane was lost and there were no survivors.

The full text as follows:

"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 that plane went down in the Southern Indian Ocean."

22:30

Investigators concluded that missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 ended in the Southern Indian Ocean, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said at a press conference Monday.

21:01

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak will hold a press conference at 10:00 pm (1400 GMT) on new developments on the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, the Star newspaper said on Monday citing a government official.

19:43

China's icebreaker for Antarctic research Xuelong and Merchant ship Zhonghaishaohua are expected to arrive on Tuesday in waters where debris possibly linked to the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 was spotted.

More vessels are heading for the waters, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a daily news briefing on Monday.

18:36

An Australian aircraft scouring the southern Indian Ocean for signs of the missing jetliner has spotted two new objects, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Monday.

Abbott told parliament an Australian naval vessel was near where the objects, one circular and greenish grey in color and the second orange and rectangular, had been seen and hoped to be able to recover them soon, Reuters reported.

The crew of a Chinese IL-76 plane spotted some suspicious objects in the southern Indian Ocean on Monday while searching for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 off Australia.

The crew has reported the coordinates -- 95.1113 degrees east longitude and 42.5453 south altitude -- to the Australian command center as well as Chinese icebreaker Xuelong, which is en route to the sea area.

Day 16

17:50

Malaysia transport minister says recieved new satellite images from French authorities showing potential debris in southern corridor.

15:30

Planes and ships scrambled Sunday to find a pallet and other debris in a remote patch of the southern Indian Ocean to determine whether the objects were from the Malaysia Airlines jet that has been missing for more than two weeks.

The pallet was spotted by a search plane Saturday, but has not been closely examined. Wooden pallets are commonly used in shipping, but can also be used in cargo containers carried on planes.

22:00

During Saturday's search activities a civil aircraft tasked by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority reported sighting a number of small objects with the naked eye, including a wooden pallet, within a radius of five kilometres.

A Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) P3 Orion aircraft with specialist electro-optic observation equipment was diverted to the location, arriving after the first aircraft left but only reported sighting clumps of seaweed.

The RNZAF Orion dropped a datum marker buoy to track the movement of the material. A merchant ship in the area has been tasked to relocate and seek to identify the material.

Chinese embassy in Malaysia confirmed Saturday that Chinese satellite spotted a floating object, 22.5 meter by 13 meter, along the southern corridor missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 might have taken.

Australia has vowed the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane will go on indefinitely, despite no sightings yet of wreckage in the Indian Ocean, BBC reported.

Deputy PM Warren Truss said the operation would go on until "further searching would be futile - and that day is not in sight".

Search operations in the Southern Indian Ocean for a missing Malaysia Airlines aircraft resumed, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) announced on Saturday, saying that the current search area, about 2,500 kilometers southwest of Australia, was identified based on satellite data on Thursday.

The AMSA said so far no sightings have been reported, and the current search area was identified based on satellite images provided by the Australian Geospatial-Intelligence Organization (AGO).

06:23

The final 54 minutes of communication between the co-pilot of the Malaysia Airlines MH370 and the control tower has revealed two odd points, the British daily Telegraph reported on Friday.

The first odd point was a message delivered by the cockpit at 1.07 a.m., saying that the plane was flying at a cruising altitude of 35,000 feet, the daily reported.

The other odd point was that the plane lost communications and turned away from its planned course to Beijing at the exact moment when the air traffic control was handed over from Kuala Lumpur of Malaysia to Ho Chi Minh of Vietnam, leading to suspicion that it was a deliberate act, according to the paper.

The daily said the fresh details revailed in the communications add to speculation over of the fate of the jet -- "whether it was the victim of a sudden accident or a hijacking."

Today’s search will utilise four military aircraft, including two RAAF Orions, tasked by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) to search a 23,000 kilometre area, about 2500 kilometres south-west of Perth. No sighting has been reported yet, said the AMSA in the latest press release.

A freighter used searchlights early Friday to scan rough seas in one of the remotest places on Earth after satellite images detected possible pieces from the missing Malaysia Airlines plane in the southern Indian Ocean.

In what officials called the "best lead" of the nearly two-week-old aviation mystery, a satellite detected two objects floating about 1,000 miles off the coast of Australia and halfway to the desolate islands of the Antarctic.

The development raised new hope of finding the vanished jet and sent another emotional jolt to the families of the 239 people aboard.

But Australian authorities said in a statement early Friday that the search had turned up nothing so far.

03:00

China's Antarctic research icebreaker, Xuelong, is ready to join the search for the plane in the area where the objects were spotted, the country's maritime authorities said on Thursday.

The ship was anchored in Perth.

Indian officials at the Andaman Islands in southeast Bay of Bengal here have indicated that any speculation of the missing Malaysian Airlines jet have entered the area is highly improbable, according to a local daily here Wednesday.

The daily Andaman Sheekha quoted unnamed officials here as saying that the Andaman and Nicobar Command of the Indian Armed Forces has already confirmed that there is no evidence of an air crash on or near any of the islands in the archipelago, lying over 1,000 km off the Indian mainland.

21:23

The Malaysian prime minister's office has said it will investigate the earlier incident in which grieving relatives were thrown out of the press conference by heavy-handed police, according to the Daily Telegraph of London.

17:22

Investigators believe the missing plane most likely flew into the southern Indian Ocean, Reuters cited a source close to the investigation as saying.

"The working assumption is that it went south, and furthermore that it went to the southern end of that corridor," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

08:30

An international land and sea search for a missing Malaysian jetliner is covering an area the size of Australia, authorities said on Tuesday, but police and intelligence agencies have yet to establish a clear motive to explain its disappearance.

04:00

Maldives island residents saw "low flying plane" on the morning of disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, Maldivian news website Haveeru reported.

Haveeru reported that residents of the remote Maldives island of Kuda Huvadhoo said they saw a "low-flying plane" around 6.15am (Maldivian time) on March 8, the day when the flight disappeared.

00:20

A Thai air force radar station has detected the signal of an unidentified aircraft that departed from Malaysia and flew northward but later diverted possibly to the Strait of Malacca, air force chief Prajin Juntong said Tuesday.

The radar in the southern province of Surat Thani detected a passenger aircraft that diverted and passed the port city of Butterworth in Malaysia, Prajin was quoted by the Nation newspaper as saying.

The aircraft could have flown to the Strait of Malacca, he said, adding it remains to be confirmed whether it is the missing flight MH370 operated on a Boeing 777-200 with 239 people aboard.

The information has been passed to the Malaysian air force, Prajin said.

Day 11

22:00

The Chinese navy has shifted the focus of the search for flight MH370 westward and increased area under scrutiny six fold, Xinhua quoted navy spokesman Liang Yang as saying.

Naval vessels on standby in the Gulf of Thailand headed north of the Singapore Strait on Monday evening and divided into two groups on Tuesday noon, said Liang.

The Jinggangshan amphibious docking vessel led a fleet through the Malacca Strait and into waters west of the Andaman Islands. Another fleet consisting of supply ship Qiandaohu, missile destroyer Haikou and amphibious transport dock Kunlunshan was heading for waters southwest of the Sumatra through the Sunda Strait.

18:06

Malaysia's Foreign Minister stressed at a press conference on Tuesday that the country has set aside partisan differences and is giving high priority to the search for missing flight MH370.

His comments came following earlier reports that Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, the pilot of the plane, is a supporter - and a relative - of Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.

17:59

Malaysia's acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said at a press conference there is no evidence to suggest that Malaysia was the target of terrorists.

17:44

Malaysia authorities said in a press conference that they have seen satellite data provided by other countries.

In the northern arch, China, the US, South Korea, Japan, the EU and others have sent specialized flights to search for the missing plane. And in the southern arch, both Indonesia and Australia are using radar to find more information.

17:35

Search area for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has expanded to cover 2.24 million square nautical miles, Malaysia's acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said in a press conference.

17:05

Sri Lanka has allowed search parties looking for the vanished Malaysian Airline flight to use Sri Lankan airspace as the hunt expands into the Indian Ocean, Xinhua reported, quoting the External Affairs Public Communications Director Satya Rodrigo.

16:32

China's largest rescue vessel, Haixun 01, headed toward Singapore on Tuesday to join in the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, Xinhua reported.

The vessel is estimated to arrive in the waters near Singapore for supplies on Wednesday before dawn and will continue its way to help search for the jet in waters near the Sunda Strait.

14:00

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said on Tuesday that Australia has begun the search operation for missing Malaysia Airline Flight MH370 in an area of 600,000 square kilometers off Western Australian coast.

John Young, general manager of AMSA Emergency Response Division, said at a press conference that the search area is 1,500 nautical miles (3,000 km) southwest of Western Australia capital city of Perth.

11:30

China has begun to searching for a missing Malaysia Airlines jet with 239 passengers and crew on board in Chinese territory which covers a northern corridor through which the aircraft could have flown, said state news agency Xinhua on Tuesday, quoting Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia Huang Huikang.

11:25

The co-pilot of a missing Malaysian jetliner spoke the last words heard from the cockpit, the airline's chief executive said, as investigators consider suicide by the captain or first officer as one possible explanation for the disappearance. (Reuters)

11:20

Relatives of Chinese passengers on the missing Malaysian flight MH370 dismissed rumors that they were confined in Kuala Lumpar, saying they have been taken good care of by the airliner.

The airline has been providing decent service in accomendation, communication, transportation and medical needs, they said.

11:10

The first turn to the west that diverted the missing Malaysia Airlines plane from its planned flight path from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing was carried out through a computer system that was most likely programmed by someone in the plane’s cockpit who was knowledgeable about airplane systems, according to senior American officials.

Instead of manually operating the plane’s controls, whoever altered Flight 370’s path typed seven or eight keystrokes into a computer on a knee-high pedestal between the captain and the first officer, according to officials. The Flight Management System, as the computer is known, directs the plane from point to point specified in the flight plan submitted before each flight. It is not clear whether the plane’s path was reprogrammed before or after it took off. (New York Times)

11:00

Background check on all passengers from Chinese mainland aboard the missing MH370 did not find any evidence that they might have hijacked or launched terror attack on the jet, Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia Huang Huikang said on Tuesday. [Photo by Peng Yining/chinadaily.com.cn]

10:00

The US Navy ship that has been helping search for the missing Malaysian airliner is dropping out of the hunt, US military officials said Monday.

The Navy's 7th Fleet determined that long-range naval aircraft are a more efficient means of looking for the plane or its debris, now that the search area has broadened into the southern Indian Ocean. Long-range Navy P-3 and P-8 surveillance aircraft remain involved in the search, Cmdr. William Marks, a spokesman for the 7th Fleet, said in an emailed statement.

The USS Kidd, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer that has been searching in the Indian Ocean, will return to its normal duties.

8:45

The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) is offering further help to Malaysia in its efforts to locate the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

The SAF said in a statement on Monday evening that it is offering the help of its Information Fusion Center which has a network of 13 military navies and 51 civilian shipping companies worldwide. The center has activated this network of ships to report any unusual sightings in designated search areas.

08:30

A New Zealand air force P3 Orion aircraft is headed to Australia to help search the Indian Ocean for the missing Malaysian MH370 flight, the New Zealand government announced Tuesday.

01:46

With ten Chinese vessels on standby for further instructions, China was readjusting its search efforts for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet and would not give up a gleam of hope, according to Chinese officials.

Malaysia should play a better role in coordinating international search efforts for the missing flight MH370, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said on Monday.

Hong told a daily press briefing, "The greater the search area becomes, the more difficult the search will be, so we have to come up with better ideas and methods."

Day 10

18:18

Malaysian authorities said no evidence suggests that there were any scuffles on the plane. The spokesman said they are investigating the possibility of the pilot committing suicide.

18:17

Malaysian government said that last ACARS transmission was at 1:07am, unknown when it was switched off. It did not transmit 30 minutes later as programmed. Last pilot communication with air traffic control was at 1:19am.

18:15

Engineers on the groud are being investigated, said Malaysian government.

18:14

Malaysian government said in a news conference that they have not yet received any demand for ransom.

18:02

Malaysian authorities admitted at a press conference on Monday that they have information which they have not yet publicized, as they first need to check the details.

17:52

A searching map will be released, said Malaysian government.

17:35

China aviation experts have joined search team, according to news conference held by Malaysian government.

16:44

China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said on Monday that China's search for the missing Malaysian jet will no longer be focused on the South China Sea, and the authorities will adjust their plans when they receive new information from Malaysian officials.

16:30

Nik Huzlan

Captain Nik Huzlan, 55, former chief pilot MAS, is a classmate of Captain Zaharie, chief pilot of the missing flight MH370 and his ten years' experience of flying Boeing 777.

"I've known him (Captain Zaharie) since 1979. He is a very kind man and never got himself in any trouble before. He likes planes and never failed any class in school. I don't think he is the hijacker," He said.

15:10

Australia will take control of the "southern vector" search for the missing Malaysian plane, its PM says, as a multinational effort continues.

14:38

Search and rescue efforts now involve 26 partners, with French aviation investigators having arrived to help, The Wall Street Journal cited Malaysia's Transport Ministry as saying.

14:08

Australia has accepted a request from Malaysia to take charge of the "southern vector" of the search for the missing jet, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Monday, Reuters reported.

Abbott said he had offered additional surveillance resources to bolster the two Australian Orion aircraft already searching for the plane during a recent phone call with Prime Minister Najib Razak.

13:51

Malaysian police are investigating a flight engineer who was among the passengers on the missing plane as they focus on the pilots and anyone else on board who had technical flying knowledge, Reuters cited a senior police official as saying.

The aviation engineer is Mohd Khairul Amri Selamat, 29, a Malaysian who has said on social media he had worked for a private jet charter company.

13:41

The Guardian of London provided three possibilities while trying to explain "why no one tried to raise the alarm if the plane was flying for so long."

"It may be that, at least initially, passengers and crew were unaware anything was wrong.

Another possibility is that passengers and the crew were somehow terrorized into compliance, either through threats or through an accomplice in the cabin.

A third theory is that the plane's apparent climb to an altitude of 45,000 feet (13.7 km) early after diversion might have been designed to incapacitate others on board by inducing hypoxia - oxygen deprivation - which quickly causes disorientation and unconsciousness and can lead to death."

11:10

US Navy P-8A Poseidon, the US military's most advanced maritime surveillance aircraft, has joined multinational search efforts, Wall Street Journal reported.

11:03

Malaysian authorities rejected large-scale American assistance, New York Times cited senior officials on the condition of anonymity as saying. The refusal has limited the efforts of American intelligence and law enforcement agencies.

08:30
In a development that could help narrow the search, five Asian nations said their radar systems hadn't detected any sign of the Malaysian Airlines aircraft that has been missing for nine days.

Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand, and India and Pakistan - which all might have been on the flight path of the wayward Boeing 777 - said there was no sign the plane had flown over their territories.

02:00

Malaysian investigators are trawling through the backgrounds of the pilots, crew and ground staff who worked on a missing jetliner for clues as to why someone on board flew it perhaps thousands of miles off course, the country's police chief said.

Background checks of passengers on Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 have drawn a blank, but not every country whose nationals were on board has responded to requests for information, police chief Khalid Abu Bakar told a news conference on Sunday.

No trace of the Boeing 777-200ER has been found since it vanished on March 8 with 239 people on board, but investigators believe it was diverted by someone who knew how to switch off its communications and tracking systems.

Day 9

18:00

Malaysian authorities say police haven't received all passenger background checks and the current effort is not targeting specific individuals.

A passenger on the missing Flight MH 370 is discovered to be born in China, educated in Turkey, taught for two years in the UK, and then learned about airplane engines in Switzerland, China's Central Television reports.

17:49

Highlights from Malaysian Transport Minister's update on searching for the missing plane

25 parterners are now involved in searching for missing plane

Offices have visited the home of the pilot and co-pilot

Pilot and co-pilot did not ask to fly together

Two search corridors are of equal importance

Search enters into a new phase

US, China and France have asked for further satellite data

This unprecedented case may change the aviation industry

Police chief says ground staff also investigated

16:36

China Maritime Search and Rescue Centre has mobilized Chinese commercial vessels in the Indian Ocean, the Bay of Bengal, and in waters west of Australia to help look for the missing plane, China Communications News reports.

15:20

China plans to send five experts to Malaysia to help in the search operations, China's embassy in Malaysia told China Daily.

14:33 March 16

China Daily reporter visited the house of Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, pilot of the missing Malaysian airliner. Guard said the pilot led a low-profile life.

Video: Neighbor says co-pilot nice

Video: House of co-pilot

14:00 March 16

China plans to send more aviation experts to Malaysia to help in the search operations, China's embassy in Malaysia told China Daily. The specific number and date will be announced later.

12：50 March 16

India put on hold the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 at the request of Kuala Lumpur. The search is suspended because Malaysia is re-assessing the situation about the missing plane and trying to prioritize the areas for renewed searching, the local TV Times Now quoted defense ministry sources as saying.

10:37 March 16

Police investigating the disappearance of a Malaysian passenger jet more than a week ago have searched the home of the co-pilot, a senior official said, after the prime minister said the aircraft had been deliberately flown way off course, Reuters reported.

A senior police official with knowledge of the investigation said special branch officers had searched the home of 27-year-old First Officer Fariq Abdul Hamid on Saturday evening. Hours earlier, police had searched the house of the aircraft's 53-year-old captain, Zaharie Ahmad Shah.

08:50 March 16

The main tool available in the search for the missing jet operating as Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is imprecise and awkward, and unfamiliar to the investigators using it, but it is all they have, New York Times reported.

They lack the four ordinary ways of finding an airplane: primary radar, which sends out radio signals and listens for echoes that bounce back from objects in the sky; secondary radar, in which the plane answers an electronic query and sends back a message giving its identification number and altitude; automated transmissions from the plane to a maintenance base; and oral reports.

O4:00 March 16

The air traffic control authorities in the southern Indian city of Chennai facing the Bay of Bengal has begun scouring their flight records, joining the search for missing Malaysia Airlines jet, said local media Sunday.

03:03 March 16

Pakistan on Saturday rejected Western media reports that the missing Malaysian airliner might be hidden somewhere in the country, according to local media.

"It's wrong, plane never came towards Pakistan," Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Aviation Shujaat Azeem told Dawn newspaper's website.

The comments came after Wall Street Journal has reported a " total flight time of five hours after departing Kuala Lumpur means the Boeing 777 could have continued for an additional distance of about 2,200 nautical miles, reaching points as far as the Indian Ocean, the border of Pakistan or even the Arabian Sea, based on the jet's cruising speed."

Day 8

23:34 March 15

China on Saturday urged Malaysia to continue providing more "thorough and accurate information" about missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 after Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said the disappearance of the missing Malaysia Airlines jet was deliberate.

19:37 March 15

The following photo obtained by British media shows the locations of two corridors, either along Thailand-Kazakhstan or Indonesia-South India, where, according to Malaysian Prime Minister at a press conference on Saturday afternoon, the missing plane is likely is.

19:12 March 15

Two Chinese vessels are heading for the Strait of Malacca.

Haikou Missile Destroyer is estimated to arrive at the east of the strait later Saturday, after searching for the missing MH370 in the Gulf of Thailand for more than 70 hours.

Another vessel, Yongxingdao, equipped with underwater robots and rescue boats, will also move towards the Strait of Malacca after it finishes its search in the east of the Gulf of Thailand.

19:03 March 15

BBC's Myanmar correspondent Jonah Fisher tweeted that Malaysia is briefing journalists that officials there think the plane is most likely on the China/Kyrgyzstan border.

18:45 March 15

If the Malaysian Airways plane did make it as far as Kazakhstan in central Asia, it would have likely flown over northern Pakistan, Washington Post quoted Pakistani aviation officials as saying Saturday.

But Abid Qaimkhan, a spokesman for Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority, said his office has not been asked to help with the investigation.

18:17 March 15

China on Saturday urged Malaysia to continue providing more "thorough and correct information" about missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in a press release that "Chinese technical specialists are on the way to Malaysia to help the investigation."

18:05 March 15

Australia is waiting for a request from Malaysia before investigating a report that the missing flight may have sent a satellite transmission signal from over the southern Indian Ocean, far from Australia's southwestern coast, Wall Street Journal reported.

The Australian military hasn't dispatched ships or aircraft to investigate an area of ocean around 1,000 miles west of Perth, a city in Western Australia. A Bloomberg news report, citing an unnamed person familiar with satellite transmission data, said the satellite transmission from MH370 may have been traced there.

17:48 March 15

Vietnam has decided to end the search for the missing Malaysian jet, an official of Vietnam's National Committee for Search and Rescue said in capital Hanoi on Saturday, Xinhua reported.

17:30 March 15

Malaysian government has cancelled the press conference scheduled at 5:30 pm, accoding to People's Daily.

17:22 March 15

The last satellite transmission from a Malaysian airliner missing for a week has been traced to the Indian Ocean off Australia, far from where searches have taken place, Bloomberg quoted a person familiar with the analysis as saying.

A path from Malaysia to the ocean off Australia would have taken as much as 3,000 miles, about the maximum distance the Boeing 777 could have flown with its fuel load.

Flight 370 may have flown beyond its last known position about 1,000 miles west of Perth, and that location may not be an indication of where the plane ended up, said the person, who spoke on condition of not being named because of the sensitivity of the information.

16:08 March 15

Police began searching the home of the pilot of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight on Saturday, after the country's prime minister confirmed the plane was suspected to have been deliberately diverted, a senior police official told Reuters.

Police officers arrived at the home of the captain, 53-year-old Zaharie Ahmad Shah, on Saturday afternoon, shortly after Prime Minister Najib Razak ended his news conference.

15:52 March 15

The airline will cease paying accommodation costs for families of the missing from Saturday. Relatives have been housed at hotels in Beijing since the plane vanished a week ago.

15:50 March 15

Future briefings for families of passengers on missing flight MH370 will be handled by the Malaysian government. Families have been housed at the Lido Hotel in Beijing since the disappearance of the plane with 239 people, including 154 Chinese on board.

Malaysia Airlines made the decision in light of a possible criminal investigation after Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said the flight's movements were "consistent with deliberate action by someone on the plane" at a news conference in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.

14:51 March 15

MH370 was last detected at 8:11am on Saturday Malaysian time, 7 hours after initial estimate. - Malaysian PM

14:43 March 15

Search in South China Sea has ended and now is focusing on new corridors. - Malaysian PM

Missing Boeing 777 likely in corridor along Thailand-Kazakhstan or Indonesia-South India - Wall Street Journal

14:33 March 15

Malaysian PM said the reports that the plane had definitely been hijacked were premature. The search of the plane has "entered a new phase".

"Authorities have refocused their investigation into crew and passengers."

14:31 March 15

Malaysian authorities are "unable to confirm the precise location of the plane when it last made contact with satellite." - Malaysian PM

14:29 March 15

MH370's movements are "consistent with deliberate action by someone on the plane". - Malaysian PM

14:28 March 15

"We can say with a high degree of certainty that the aircraft communication reporting system was disabled before the aircraft reached the east coast of the peninsula Malaysia." - Malaysian PM

14:24 March 15

PM Razak says "This is an excruciating time for the families of those on board."

"It is widely understood that this has been a situation without precedent."

14:20 March 15

Malaysian PM is speaking at the government press conference, which was delayed for 50 minutes.

14:09 March 15

Another press conference is expected at 5:30 pm when questions concerning technology details will be addressed, while this news briefing will not allow Question & Answer procedure.

14:02 March 15

Malaysian government press conference in Kuala Lumpur is expected to begin any moment now. It was previously scheduled at 1:30 pm.

12:00 March 15

A Malaysian government official says investigators have concluded the missing Malaysia Airlines plane was hijacked, according to Sky News.

The official said no motive has been established and it is not yet clear where the plane was taken, but he said hijacking was "conclusive".

09:45 March 15

Analysis of electronic pulses picked up from a missing Malaysian airliner shows it could have run out of fuel and crashed into the Indian Ocean after it flew hundreds of miles off course, a source familiar with official US assessments said on Friday.

The source, who is familiar with data the US government is receiving from the investigation into the disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines plane, said the other, but less likely possibility, was that it flew on toward India.

08:45 March 15

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 experienced significant changes in altitude after it lost contact with ground control, and altered its course more than once as if still under the command of a pilot, American officials and others familiar with the investigation said Friday.

08:30 March 15

The investigation into the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 sharpened its focus on sabotage, according to aviation and industry officials, amid strong indications that one or more people on the plane deliberately changed its course and tried to mask its location.

Officials suspect two different systems were shut off after the plane took off last weekend, one shortly after the other, people familiar with the investigation said.

06:10 March 15

A classified intelligence analysis of electronic and satellite data suggests Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 likely crashed either in the Bay of Bengal or elsewhere in the Indian Ocean, CNN has learned.

The analysis conducted by the United States and Malaysia governments may have narrowed the search area for the missing commercial jetliner.

00:51 March 15

China will expand the search area for the missing jet in the coming days, authorities said on Friday.

The search will be expanded to the east and west, with intensive search in the east region and enhanced efforts in the southeast from Saturday, according to the China Maritime Search and Rescue Center.