말레이시아 당국 “실종 여객기 납치 결론”

A woman reads messages and well wishes to people involved with the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner MH370, Saturday, in Sepang, Malaysia. (AP-Yonhap)

말레이시아 수사 당국이 지난 8일 실종된 말레이시아 항공 여객기가 납치됐다는 결론을 내린 것으로 알려졌다.

말레이시아 정부 관계자는 “사고기가 조종사 중 한명 또는 비행기 운행 경험이 있는 누군가에 의해 납치된 것으로 결론내렸다”고 말했다고 외신들이 15일 밝혔다. 다만 납치 동기는 아직 알 수 없으며 비행기가 어디로 납치됐는지도 불분명하다.

승객과 승무원 239명을 태운 말레이시아 항공 여객기는 8일 0시41분(현지시간) 말레이시아 쿠알라룸푸르를 이륙, 오전 6시30분 베이징에 도착할 예정이었으나 이륙 2시간 뒤 통신이 끊기고 레이더에서도 사라졌다.

사고 직후 말레이시아, 베트남 등 11개국이 항공기와 선박을 동원해 수색에 나섰으나 잔해는 아직 발견되지 않았다. (헤럴드생생뉴스)

Malaysia says jet's disappearance 'deliberate'

A missing Malaysian airliner was apparently deliberately diverted and flown for hours after vanishing from radar, Prime Minister Najib Razak said Saturday, stopping short of confirming a hijack but taking the "excruciating" jet drama into uncharted new territory.

Najib said investigators believed "with a high degree of certainty" that
systems relaying Malaysia Airlines flight 370's location to air traffic control
were manually switched off before the jet veered westward in a fashion
"consistent with deliberate action".

But a grave-looking Najib told a press conference watched around the globe
that he could not confirm whether the plane had been forcibly taken over.

"Despite media reports that the plane was hijacked, I wish to be very
clear: we are still investigating all possibilities as to what caused MH370 to
deviate from its original flight path," he said.

He called it an "excruciating time for the families of those on board."

The new information appeared to cast aside a host of theories on the
plane's disappearance, which has transfixed the world and left frustrated
families of the 239 passengers and crew baying for scarce information.

Previous scenarios included a sudden mid-air explosion, catastrophic
equipment or structural failure, or a crash into the South China Sea.

But Najib's announcement opened a whole new avenue of speculation including an attempted 9/11-style attack.

Final satellite communication with the Boeing 777, scheduled to fly from
Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, came more than six-and-a-half hours after it vanished from civilian radar at 1:30am on March 8, said Najib.

That would equate with the time Malaysia Airlines has said the plane would
have run out of fuel.

Investigators had concluded the plane was diverted west from its original
flight path, and thus a search in the South China Sea would end, Najib said,
but would continue in the Indian Ocean. (AFP)