Malaysia to release MH370 report one day before anniversary

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Malaysia will release an interim report on its investigation into Flight MH370 on March 7, a day before the first anniversary of the jet’s mysterious disappearance, an official said Wednesday, January 28.

However, deputy transport minister Abdul Aziz Kaprawi declined comment on whether the report would contain any revelations on the fate of the Malaysia Airlines jet.

“It is a report by the investigation team. It will be a lengthy report of a few hundred pages,” he said.

The report is being compiled and released by the Department of Civil Aviation and is required by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) one year after air accidents, he said.

MH370 vanished on March 8 of last year with 239 passengers and crew aboard en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in what remains one of history’s great aviation mysteries.

Malaysian authorities say satellite data indicates the plane inexplicably detoured to the remote southern Indian Ocean, and “deliberate” on-board action is suspected.

But no firm evidence has turned up yet despite an ongoing Australian-led search of the supposed crash region – the most expensive search and rescue operation in history.

Malaysia launched various investigations into the affair but has so far released no information on any findings.

Malaysian authorities had released a report required by the ICAO a few weeks after the incident last year, but it contained little that was not already known.

Some next-of-kin bitterly accuse the Malaysian government and its flag carrier of a chaotic and bungled response to the plane’s initial diversion that allowed the jet to disappear. They  continue to maintain that the truth is being covered up.

Those charges have been strenuously denied.

Various theories have been floated on what happened to the plane including hijack, rogue pilot action, mechanical malfunction or a catastrophic event that disabled the cockpit crew. But no clues have emerged to bolster any of the scenarios. – Rappler.com