Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak told reporters on Saturday that the investigation has diverted focus on the safety of the crew and passengers on-board the missing Flight 370, hinting strongly that it had been hijacked.
Citing military sources, Razak said that someone must have deliberately disabled the transponders on the plane, which carried 239 people on board. "Despite media speculation that the plane was hijacked, I wish to be very clear that all possibilities are being investigated," he added.
The Prime Minister went on to say that search operations will focus on two possible corridors - northern and southern corridors - and that search in the South China Sea would end.
The northern corridor covers areas from northern Thailand to the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, and the southern corridor extends from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean.
This revelation on the possible path of the missing plane has given rise to further speculation that it could have been flown to Pakistan. The northern corridor, which includes Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, is not far away from southern Pakistan, which happens to be a hotbed of terrorism.
However, Malaysian authorities have said that they are still unable to confirm the exact location of the plane.
Razak avoided many questions posed by journalists. However, citing varied military and satellite data, he revealed that satellite signals suggested that the plane flew for several hours after it lost radar contact. This development indicates that the plane had flown thousands of miles away from what was earlier reported to have been the last point of contact.
Malaysian Flight MH370 carrying 239 people on-board went missing after it lost contact with the ground on 8 March, just an hour into its journey from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Several theories, including those of crash and hijacking, did the rounds even as international communities extended their help in the search operations.
