Kuala Lumpur: The search for the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner is focusing on two widely separated quadrants, one in the Malacca Straits off the west coast of Malaysia and the other hundreds of miles away in the northern Bay of Bengal, a U.S. official said today.
The focus on those areas is based on sharing of data by Malaysia and the U.S. that has led to determinations that there is a higher probability that the jetliner took a path in either of those directions, the official said.
The official said that the searches in those quadrants will begin taking place over the next 24 hours.
Those quadrants were settled on today after a satellite communications company said that the missing plane contacted its network on the day it disappeared in what could turn out to be a big break in the effort to locate the jetliner or determine where it went. It was the latest indication that the plane has flown far from its designated flight path that was intended to take its 239 passengers to Beijing.
Inmarsat, a British company, said today, "Routine, automated signals were registered on the Inmarsat network from Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 during its flight from Kuala Lumpur."
It said the information was shared with SITA, a company that specializes in air transport communications. SITA shared with details with Malaysia Airlines, Inmarsat said.
ABC News had previously reported that the missing plane continued to "ping" a satellite after two of its communications system, including its transponder, had shut down.
U.S. officials who have been briefed on the investigation have said two of the plane's communications systems were shut down separately and it appeared to have been done manually.
“There are four or five possibilities which we are exploring," Hishammuddin told a news conference today. "It could have been done intentionally. It could be done under duress. It could have been done because of an explosion. That’s why I don’t want to go into the realm of speculation. We are looking at the all the possibilities.”
When asked whether investigators were looking at whether one of the plane's two pilots or cabin crew could have involved in whatever happened to the plane, he replied. “We are looking at that possibility.”
A senior U.S. military official told ABC News that they had not ruled out that the plane was flown to a secret site so it could be used at a later date.
14/03/14 Gloria Riviera, Molly Hunter, Luis Martinez and Joohee Cho/ABC News
To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline
The focus on those areas is based on sharing of data by Malaysia and the U.S. that has led to determinations that there is a higher probability that the jetliner took a path in either of those directions, the official said.
The official said that the searches in those quadrants will begin taking place over the next 24 hours.
Those quadrants were settled on today after a satellite communications company said that the missing plane contacted its network on the day it disappeared in what could turn out to be a big break in the effort to locate the jetliner or determine where it went. It was the latest indication that the plane has flown far from its designated flight path that was intended to take its 239 passengers to Beijing.
Inmarsat, a British company, said today, "Routine, automated signals were registered on the Inmarsat network from Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 during its flight from Kuala Lumpur."
It said the information was shared with SITA, a company that specializes in air transport communications. SITA shared with details with Malaysia Airlines, Inmarsat said.
ABC News had previously reported that the missing plane continued to "ping" a satellite after two of its communications system, including its transponder, had shut down.
U.S. officials who have been briefed on the investigation have said two of the plane's communications systems were shut down separately and it appeared to have been done manually.
“There are four or five possibilities which we are exploring," Hishammuddin told a news conference today. "It could have been done intentionally. It could be done under duress. It could have been done because of an explosion. That’s why I don’t want to go into the realm of speculation. We are looking at the all the possibilities.”
When asked whether investigators were looking at whether one of the plane's two pilots or cabin crew could have involved in whatever happened to the plane, he replied. “We are looking at that possibility.”
A senior U.S. military official told ABC News that they had not ruled out that the plane was flown to a secret site so it could be used at a later date.
14/03/14 Gloria Riviera, Molly Hunter, Luis Martinez and Joohee Cho/ABC News
