Malaysian authorities are seeking diplomatic permission to investigate a theory that the vanished Boeing 777 plane was flown to one of a number of Taliban strongholds on the Afghan border and in North West Pakistan, a report said.
The latest revelation came as it was revealed that the final message sent to air traffic controllers from the jet’s cockpit, “ All right, goodnight”, was spoken after someone on board had already disabled the plane’s ACARS reporting system, the Independent reported.
Around 14 minutes later someone also switched off the plane’s transponder, which identifies it to commercial radar systems. Malaysian Air force Major General Affendi Buang told reporters that the two separate actions, along with the calm message in between, “will tell you something” about whether the diversion was deliberate or not.
At least 25 countries are now assisting in the search for the plane, intensifying challenges of co-ordinating ground, sea and aerial efforts. Countries known to be involved include Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Burma, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and Australia, with special assistance regarding satellite data requested from the US, China and France.
On Sunday, Malaysian officials examined a sophisticated flight simulator belonging to the chief pilot of the missing jet, after experts said only a trained person could have turned off the plane’s communication equipment and flown it off course without being detected.
Working on the theory that the plane was intentionally flown off course, police have delved into the backgrounds of captain Zaharie Ahmed Shah, 53, and 27-year-old co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid. Their homes were searched on Saturday, and on Sunday, experts examined the simulator Shah kept in his home which he had built himself.
There have been no reported sightings or concrete leads on the whereabouts of the jet, which vanished from radar screens shortly after it took off in Kuala Lumpur at 0040H on the morning of March8, destination Beijing.
The final confirmed location for MH370 on civilian radar was at 0121H, but it was spotted less than an hour later on a military radar, far to the West of that position. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak revealed that ping signals from the plane were last received at 0811H.
Based on data collated by the British company Inmarsat’s satellite network, at that point the plane was on one of two possible arcs, one stretching North from Thailand to Kazakhstan and crossing more than 10 countries, and one to the South over Indonesia and out across the Southern Indian ocean. Experts have said the aircraft could have been on the ground when it sent its satellite signals.
Boeing 777s need a runway of at least 5,000ft long, limiting the number of possible sites within the 2,200 nautical mile-radius it is believed the plane could have flown from its last known position.