The investigation into the fate of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight has taken a dark turn as Malaysian officials say available information indicates the plane was deliberately flown off course, suggesting a possible hijacking.
Malaysian military radar data made available to the US, but not yet released publically, indicates the aircraft made dramatic changes in altitude after a sharp change in course once air traffic control lost the plane early on March 8.
The aircraft appears to have flown across peninsular Malaysia then northwest toward the Indian Andaman islands along flight waypoints, indicating whoever was piloting the jetliner had aviation experience.
Search efforts are now focused on two massive swathes of water in the Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean.
Reuters reports: "Faint electronic signals sent to satellites from a missing Malaysian jetliner show it may have been flown thousands of miles off course before running out of fuel over the Indian Ocean, a source familiar with official U.S. assessments said.
"Investigators are focusing increasingly on foul play, as evidence suggests the plane turned sharply west after its disappearance and - with its communications systems deliberately switched off - continued to fly for perhaps several hours.
"'What we can say is we are looking at sabotage, with hijack still on the cards,' said a senior Malaysian police official.
The Associated Press cited an unnamed Malaysian government official as saying investigators had 'conclusively' established that one of the pilots or someone else with flying experience had hijacked the plane. That report could not immediately be confirmed with officials in Malaysia.
"Analysis in Malaysia and the United States of military radar tracking and pulses detected by satellites are starting to piece together an extraordinary picture of what may have happened to the plane after it lost contact with civilian air traffic control.
"The fate of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370, and the 239 passengers and crew aboard, has been shrouded in mystery since it vanished off Malaysia's east coast less than an hour into a March 8 scheduled flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
"A U.S. source familiar with the investigation said there was also discussion within the U.S. government that the plane's disappearance might have involved an act of piracy.
"A source familiar with data the U.S. government is receiving from the investigation said the pulses sent to satellites were ambiguous and had been interpreted to provide two different analyses.
"The electronic signals were believed to have been transmitted for several hours after the plane flew out of radar range, said the source familiar with the data.
"The most likely possibility is that, after travelling northwest, the Boeing 777-200ER made a sharp turn to the south, over the Indian Ocean where officials think, based on the available data, it flew until it ran out of fuel and crashed into the sea, added the source.
"The other interpretation is that Flight MH370 continued to fly to the northwest and headed over Indian territory.
"The source added that it was believed unlikely the plane flew for any length of time over India because that country has strong air defence and radar coverage and that should have allowed authorities there to see the plane and intercept it.
"Either way, the analysis of satellite data appears to support the radar evidence outlined by sources familiar with the investigation in Malaysia.
"Two sources told Reuters that military radar data showed an unidentified aircraft that investigators suspect was Flight MH370 following a commonly used commercial, navigational route towards the Middle East and Europe.
"That course - headed into the Andaman Sea and towards the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean - could only have been set deliberately, either by flying the jet manually or by programming the auto-pilot."
