In absence of answers, Flight MH370 declared ’lost’ with no survivors
Move along, folks, move along. Nothing to see here.The fate of the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has been decided by officials and announced today.
Associated Press reports that Flight MH370 "has been lost and none of those on board survived."
This announcement may be a move to end the desperation the families have been suffering since the plane was reported missing on March 8, and move them towards grieving and closure. However, no further evidence to support these conclusions has been brought forward, because so little is known. The search for wreckage will reportedly continue.AP writes: "Relatives of passengers in Beijing had been called to a hotel near the airport to hear the announcement. Afterward, they filed out of a conference room in heart-wrenching grief.
One woman collapsed and fell on her knees, crying “My son! My son!”
Is it truly in the south Indian Ocean as they claim?
The BBC received a statement from the airline saying ’it had to be assumed "beyond reasonable doubt" that the plane was lost and there were no survivors’. No evidence has been found at this time to prove that however, and officials are basing this on the last known position of the flight and reports of potential debris seen from grainy satellite images.
From Associated Press:
Malaysian authorities have not ruled out any possible explanation for what happened to the jet, but have said the evidence so far suggests it was deliberately turned back across Malaysia to the Strait of Malacca, with its communications systems disabled. They are unsure what happened next.
Authorities are considering the possibilities of hijacking, sabotage, terrorism or issues related to the mental health of the pilots or someone else on board.
Malaysia’s police chief, Inspector General Khalid Abu Bakar reiterated at a news conference Monday that all the passengers had been cleared of suspicion.
But he said that the pilots and crew were still being investigated. He would not comment on whether investigators had recovered the files that were deleted a month earlier from the home flight simulator of the chief pilot.
In the U.S., Tony Blinken, President Barack Obama’s deputy national security adviser, said on CNN: “There is no prevailing theory.”
“Publicly or privately, we don’t know,” he said. “We’re chasing down every theory.”
The statement from Malaysia Airlines can be found here.
More skeptical observers might wonder what triggered the announced conclusions. Do investigators have information that has yet to be released to the public? Are they simply keeping the welfare of the families in mind? For those that suspect a hijacking and secret landing rather than a water crash, this conclusion can be taken as an official termination of that line of inquiry.
Hopefully the search for answers will continue with the same vigor as before the announcement. We will keep reporting on any developments.
*edit: 24/03/2014, 14:00
