Authorities suddenly came up Monday with new last words from the cockpit of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 just moments before the jet flew off course and vanished.
Malaysia’s acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein corrected the final transmission on Twitter, saying the actual words were, “Good night, Malaysian three seven zero.”
Up until now, Malaysian officials have claimed the last transmission from the cockpit before the plane vanished March 8 was, “All right, good night.”
Previously, Malaysian officials identified co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid as the one who made the final transmission. Now Hussein says investigators are not sure.
He said a forensic investigation will determine whether Hamid or the pilot, Capt. Zahari Ahmad Shah, made the signoff at 1:19 a.m. March 8.
While there is nothing unusual about the new language, the sudden change gives loved ones of the 239 people aboard new suspicions that Malaysian officials are not giving them full and accurate information.
“It speaks to credibility issues, unfortunately,” Mary Schiavo, former inspector general of the U.S. Department of Transportation, said on CNN.
Family members of those aboard the jet have demanded facts about the flights and have accused authorities of withholding information.
Hussein promised to give the families a full transcript of the last communications between the cockpit and the traffic controllers.
Meanwhile, a lead deemed by officials as the “most promising” in the hunt for the aircraft in the southern Indian Ocean turned out Monday to be orange fishing gear adrift in a sea of junk.
The frustrating search for the missing jet stretched into its 23rd day Monday with nothing to show for it, and with the clock running out on plane’s black box pingers.
The batteries of the black box flight recorders have a life of about 30 days, meaning they’ll shut down in about eight days.
But crews have been unable to pinpoint the plane in a search zone of about 100,000 square miles of ocean.
Robert Francis, former head of the National Transportation Safety board, said Monday that the chances of finding the black boxes are “enormously remote.”
“I think the finding of those recorders ultimately is very, very slim,” Francis said on CNN.
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