Citing new satellite data, the Prime Minister of Malaysia Najib Rajak said in a press conference that Malaysia Airlines flight 370 "ended" in the Indian Ocean, effectively putting an end to speculation that survivors could still be found.

"MH370 flew along the southern corridor and it’s last position was in the middle of the Indian Ocean west of Perth," Prime Minister Rajak said at Putra World Trade Centre Monday in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. "This is a remote location, far from any possible landing sights. 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.”

"With deep sadness and regret I must inform you that, according to this new data, flight #MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean."

— Mohd Najib Tun Razak (@NajibRazak) March 24, 2014

 

The "new data" to which Prime Minister Rajak referred comes from Inmarsat, the UK company which first calculated that the plane either went north, toward the Middle East, or south, toward Australia (the "northern" and "southern corridors"), after turning west from its intended route.

"Using a type of analysis never before used in an investigation of this sort, they have been able to shed more light on MH370's flight path," he said. According to this "new analysis," Inmarsat and the UK Air Accidents Investigations Branch "have concluded that MH370 flew along the southern corridor, and that its last position was in the middle of the Indian Ocean, west of Perth."

Before the conference began, the BBC reported that the following text message was sent to family members of passengers on the missing flight: "Malaysia Airlines deeply regrets that we have to assume beyond any reasonable doubt that MH370 has been lost and that none of those on board survived. As you will hear in the next hour from Malaysia's Prime Minister, we must now accept all evidence suggests the plane went down in the Southern Indian Ocean."

Adrienne Mong, an NBC news correspondent, tweeted this screenshot of the text message families received:

The text msg Malaysia Airlines sent to inform Chinese #MH370 families about flight's fate ending in S Indian Ocean pic.twitter.com/Ys3azWL7WB

— Adrienne Mong (@adriennemong) March 24, 2014

 

Flight 370 vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing, China. The 16 days since the Boeing 777 disappeared with 239 people on board have been fraught with false leads and constantly-changing details about the flight's path. According to most recent reports, the plane took a southern route, toward Australia, after abruptly changing directions and flying west over Malaysia, escaping radar detection all the while.

Debris first spotted by U.S. satellites intensified the search for the plane in a remote part of the southern Indian Ocean, though seven days of searching have come up empty. This latest announcement confirms that, despite the continued hopes of family members, the search for the aircraft will end in the sea.

Officials will hold a press conference Tuesday with more details, the prime minister said, urging members of the press to respect the privacy of families, who have been through a "heartbreaking" experience. His full statement is available here.

Image: Rob Griffith, Pool/Associated Press

The prime minister’s announcement comes after Chinese and Australian aircraft spotted debris in the South Indian Ocean — ships are now on their way to retrieve it. It appears he made the statement, however, based on new data analysis alone, without referencing any confirmed sighting of debris from the jet.