Malaysia Airlines flight MH370: 'All right, goodnight' were missing pilot's last message

 
13 March 2014

The final words heard from the cockpit of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 before it disappeared without trace were “all right, goodnight”, it has been revealed.

One of the pilots is reported to have made the comment by radio as the plane passed from Malaysian to Vietnamese air space. It is then said to have disappeared from radar screens.

The pilot’s sign-off was reportedly described by Malaysia’s ambassador in Beijing during a meeting with relatives of missing Chinese passengers. It came as the first photograph of pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah emerged.

Malaysia today vowed that it would “never give up hope” of saving the passengers on the missing flight as the search for the aircraft was expanded to cover a huge swathe of South-East Asia.

Hishammuddin Hussein, Malaysia’s defence and acting transport minister, said that an area from the South China Sea to the Straits of Malacca, covering 27,000 square nautical miles, was now being searched.

He added that 12 countries, 42 ships and 39 planes were taking part in the hunt and insisted that rescuers would not give up despite the declining chances of finding survivors.

Still waiting: a relative cries as she arrives at a hotel designated as a holding area for family members of passengers on board the missing flight (Picture: AP)

“As time passes I fear that the search and rescue will become just a search, but we will never give up hope,” he told a news conference in Kuala Lumpur. “We will do whatever it takes to find it.”

Mr Hussein denied that the investigation into the plane’s fate was mired in confusion and insisted that his country had pursued a “consistent” approach since it disappeared early on Saturday.

More potentially significant testimony came hours later, however, when a New Zealander working on an oil rig off the Vietnamese coast claimed to have seen a burning jet. Michael McKay said in an email that he was on the rig Songa Mercur when he saw the aircraft in flames. “Gentlemen. I believe I saw the Malaysian Airlines flight come down. The timing is right. I tried to contact Malaysian and Vietnamese officials days ago. But I do not know if the message has been received. I am on the oil rig Songa-Mercur off the coast of Vung Tau.

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“I observed burning at high altitude. While I observed [the plane] it appeared to be in one piece. From when I first saw the burning until the flames went out (at high altitude) was 10-15 seconds. There was no lateral movement so it was either coming toward our position (falling) or going away.”

Investigation: workers push a Vietnam Air Force rescue aircraft n Ho Chi Minh city after a searching mission (Picture: AP)

The unconfirmed claims came amid signs of growing frustration in China, whose citizens formed the majority of the 239 passengers, about the failure to find any sign of the plane in the five days since its disappearance.

One Chinese newspaper described the Malaysian handling of the investigation as “pretty chaotic” and questioned whether Malaysia might be “deliberately” concealing information.

One of seven missing Indonesian passengers was today named as Firman Chandra Siregar, a 25-year-old student in electrical engineering at the Bandung Technology Institute.

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