Missing Flight 370 Crashed Into Indian Ocean, Says Malaysian Prime Minister

The Malaysia Airlines jet that disappeared on March 8 during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing crashed into the Indian Ocean according to statements from Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and the airline.

Investigators at Britain's Air Accident Investigations Branch, using data from satellite company Inmarsat, have concluded that the plane's final location must have been somewhere over the Indian Ocean west of the Australian city of Perth. As a result of the crash, none of the 239 passengers and crewmembers could have survived.

At a press conference Monday morning, Razak said, "It is, therefore, with deep sadness and regret that I must inform you that according to this new data, flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean."

The Boeing 777 flew for several hours after last making contact with ground controllers, and the satellite data shows that, of all the possible routes the plane could have taken, none of them could have resulted in a safe landing.

Malaysia Airlines has notified the families of those who were onboard. Mark Stone, a reporter for Sky News, passed along a message from Malaysia Airlines about flight 370, saying:

We deeply regret that we have to assume beyond any reasonable doubt that MH370 has been lost and that none of those onboard have survived. We must now accept all evidence suggest the plane went down in the southern Indian Ocean.

Australian leaders also announced Monday that they had discovered several pieces of floating debris in the southern Indian Ocean, within the range of where investigators think the plane must have fallen. The search for any actual physical evidence of the downed plane will continue.   French satellite photos appeared to indicate debris from the plane.

  A "pinger" device has been sent to the region by the U.S. Navy Pacific Command.  It's a device towed slowly behind a ship that can listen for black box signals from airplanes as far down as 6,100 meters, or nearly 20,000 feet.   The ocean depth in the area where the plane is believed to have done down ranges from over 3,700 feet to over 23,000 feet.

[N.Y. Times, CNN]