In a statement Monday, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced that the latest data appeared to show that Flight MH370 had ended in the southern Indian Ocean.
While there's still little concrete evidence of exactly where the plane is, it appears to have been the first definitive statement on what happened to the Malaysia Airlines flight from authorities, which disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8.
A meeting with Chinese relatives of the passengers on board MH370 and representatives of Malaysia Airlines was held before the announcement in Kuala Lumpur, according to the New York Times, and relatives were also reportedly sent a text message from the airline. Here's a screen-shot of one from Adrienne Mong of NBC News:
Both Malaysia Airlines and the Malaysian government have been criticized for their handling of MH370's disappearance. Whatever the practical benefits of using a text message to inform families that their loved ones were thought to be dead, it seems likely this move may also be criticized.
Meanwhile, Malaysian defense minister Hishammuddin Hussein has tweeted on the treatment of the relatives of MH370 families - Washington Post Blog
[caption id="attachment_4980" align="aligncenter" width="460"]
Relatives of passengers of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 embrace each other after learning of news from Kuala Lumpur, at a hotel in Beijing, China. Photograph: ROLEX DELA PENA/EPA[/caption]The Associated Press reports on the relatives of MH370 passengers:
In Beijing, relatives shrieked and sobbed uncontrollably and men and women held up their loved ones when they heard the news. Their grief came pouring out after days of waiting for definitive word on the fate of their relatives aboard the missing plane.
The family members in Beijing had been called to a hotel near the airport to hear the announcement. Afterward, they filed out of a conference room in heart-wrenching grief.
One woman collapsed and fell on her knees, crying "My son! My son!"
Medical teams arrived with several stretchers and at least one elderly man was carried out of the conference room on one of them, his faced covered by a jacket. Minutes later a middle-aged woman was taken out on another, her face ashen and her eyes blank and expressionless.
Nan Jinyan, whose brother-in-law Yan Ling was aboard the flight, said she was prepared for the worst. "This is a blow to us, and it is beyond description," Nan said.
In Kuala Lumpur, Selamat Omar, the father of a 29-year-old aviation engineer who was on the flight, said some family members there broke down in tears at the news.
"We accept the news of the tragedy. It is fate," Selamat told The Associated Press. Guardian UK
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