Missing Malaysian Flight 370 Was Hijacked - Official

The plane that disappeared over the waters of the Gulf of Thailand was hijacked, a Malaysian official told reporters Friday night.

The Associated Press reports that the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity since he wasn't authorized to talk to the press, said a hijacking was no longer just one of the many theories about what happened to the missing plane.

"It is conclusive," he said.

Investigators have concluded that one or more hijackers took control of the plane, and at least one of them had significant experience as a pilot, switching off communications devices and steering it off course.

There's no word on exactly where the plane was taken, or if it survived.

Ground staff take a break under a Malaysia Airlines plane at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia, Sunday, March 9, 2014. (Image: Lai Seng Sin/Associated Press)

A key piece of evidence that led investigators to conclude it was a hijacking was the timing of signal failures. The plane's transponder signal ended more than 10 minutes before the plane's messaging system failed. Such a big gap rules out the possibility of a sudden, catastrophic event.

A hijacking was seen as one of the more plausible scenarios about what happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which went missing on March 8 when it dropped off the radar just one hour after takeoff.

Since then, investigators have examined many possible theories, including hijacking, rapid decompression, pilot error and even a missile attack.

It appears hijacking is now the definite conclusion according to the Malaysian government.

But the questions of who was behind it and why are far from being answered.

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Source: AP; Mashable