BANGKOK, March 24. /ITAR-TASS/. The missing Malaysian Boeing-777-200 passenger liner was last captured on satellite images in the south-eastern part of the Indian Ocean west of the Australian city of Perth, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said at a special news conference in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, March 24.
After analyzing the images, specialists came to the conclusion that the plane had crashed in this area. Prior to that the Malaysian authorities had pursued possible hijacking as the main venue of investigation.
Floating objects on the surface of the water were spotted some 2,500 km southwest of Australia on March 24. However, it is not clear yet whether they belong to the missing plane.
Ten planes - four Australian, two Chinese, one American, one New Zealand, and two Japanese took part in the search operation. All of them are based in Perth.
Boeing-777-200 was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 227 passengers and 12 crewmembers on board on March 7. Contact with it was lost about two hours after its departure from the Malaysian capital.