Off the wire
• Sri Lanka to further strengthen ties with China, India to "higher level"  • U.S. drawing Russia into new Cold War: Gorbachev  • Interview: Zimbabwe, EU set to sign large funding agreement  • FLASH: CAUSALITIES FEARED AS EXPLOSION ROCKS FUNERAL CEREMONY IN EASTERN AFGHANISTAN -- OFFICIAL  • Roundup: Kenya, Britain to negotiate renewal of military training  • China's coal output suffers record fall last year: report  • China steel industry struggles  • Kenya to push for overhaul of Rome Statute at AU summit  • Myanmar petanque athletes to undergo joint training in Thailand  • 1st LD: Malaysia officially announces flight of MH370 is lost  
You are here: 　 Home

2nd LD: Malaysian gov't declares MH370 accident, all those aboard presumed dead

Xinhua, January 29, 2015 Adjust font size:

Director General of Malaysian Department of Civil Aviation Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said on Thursday that the Malaysian government officially declared MH370 an accident, and all 239 people on board the plane were presumed dead.

"It is therefore, with the heaviest heart and deepest sorrow that, on behalf of the government of Malaysia, we officially declare Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 an accident ... and that all 239 of the passengers and crew on board MH370 are presumed to have lost their lives," Azharuddin said in a statement.

After 327 days (as of Jan. 28, 2015) and based on all available data as well as circumstances mentioned earlier, survivability in the defined area where the plane was located was highly unlikely, the statement said.

Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, a Boeing 777 aircraft with 239 people aboard, disappeared on March 8 last year shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur en-route to Beijing.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has announced the ill- fated plane had "ended in the southern Indian Ocean," following analysis of data released by British satellite telecommunications company Inmarsat. Endi