Allison Thompson | Contributing Writer
News of the missing Malaysian Airlines plane continues into a second week, but with additional details that begin to explain the mystery. The aircraft disappeared on March 8th while on its way to Beijing, China from the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur. Until now, the investigation had yielded little to no explanations as to why the plane disappeared.
The nation’s Prime Minister, Najib Razak, did not call the mysterious Flight 370 a “hijacking,” but in an interview on Saturday, according to CNN.com, he said the plane “veered off course due to apparent deliberate action taken by someone aboard.”
An accident did not cause the disappearance, instead, there is confirmation that a passenger caused the plane to turn around halfway through the flight in the opposite direction of its intended destination of Beijing. It has also been noted that two of the 239 passengers boarded with stolen passports.
Evidence also suggests the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System, ACARS, which caused the plane’s transponder to be switched off. As a result, the plane could no longer be tracked.
Families of the 239 passengers who boarded Flight 370 continue to hope and pray that their loved ones are still alive. They hold onto the evidence that shows the plane did not make impact.
Several other details show the growing mystery of this flight; the plane lost contact with the air traffic controllers only 45 minutes after takeoff, and the nation’s radar shows that the plane climbed higher than its approved altitude limit.
Unconfirmed speculations continue to swirl surrounding this international mystery, but Prime Minister Najib hopes that the media will be sensitive to the families of the missing passengers.
“We understand the desperate need for information on behalf of the families and those watching around the world,” Najib said. “But we have a responsibility to the investigation and the families to only release information that has been corroborated.”
The search involves 14 countries, 43 ships and 58 aircrafts, according to CNN.com.