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A Malaysian official involved in the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has contradicted public claims from the Malaysian government by saying that its military knowingly and continuously tracked the plane on radar for more than an hour after communication with ground control was severed in the early hours of March 8.

The anonymous air force official told Chinese web portal Tencent that despite initial claims that they could not be certain, the Malaysian military knew very well that the plane they were tracking on radar was flight MH370 and followed it as it climbed above the Boeing 777's approved altitude of 45,000ft and took a sharp turn to the west before descending unevenly to 23,000ft on the approach to the island of Penang. The plane then climbed back to 35,000ft and headed northwest towards the Indian Ocean, with the final reading showing it above the tiny island of Pulau Perak in the Strait of Malacca at around 2.40am.

Though they had known this all along, Malaysian authorities did not reveal this crucial information until March 15, a week after the plane's disappearance, the official said. It also meant that Malaysia knew from the beginning that the plane — if it had crashed — was likely in the Strait of Malacca region on the west side of the country as opposed to the South China Sea on the east side, where dozens of ships and aircraft from other countries searched fruitlessly for days, the official added.

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But Reuters reports that Australian authorities said a US Navy P-8 Poseidon, the most advanced search aircraft in the world, had been unable to find the objects.

"A US Navy P-8 Poseidon aircraft was tasked to investigate reported object sightings by the Chinese aircraft made at 33,000ft," an AMSA spokeswoman said in an emailed response to Reuters.

"The objects were spotted by the Chinese aircraft as it was heading back to Perth. Drift modelling was undertaken on the sighting. The P-8 was unable to relocate the reported objects."

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Media Release

24th March, 2014: 2030(AEDT)
Search operation for Malaysia Airlines aircraft: Update 15

• The Australian Maritime Safety Authority can advise objects have been located by a Royal Australian Air Force P3 Orion.
• HMAS Success is on scene and is attempting to locate the objects in the search for missing Malaysia Aircraft flight MH370.
• The objects were spotted in the search area about 2500 kilometres south-west of Perth by the RAAF Orion about 2.45pm (AEDT).
• The crew on board the Orion reported seeing two objects – the first a grey or green circular object and the second an orange rectangular object.
• The objects identified by the RAAF Orion are separate to the objects reported by the Chinese Ilyushin IL-76 to AMSA earlier today.
• The objects reported by the Chinese were also within today’s search area.
• The US Navy P8 Poseidon aircraft sought to relocate the objects reported by the Chinese aircraft but were unable to do so.
• The US Navy P8 is remains in the search area, while a second RAAF P3 and a Japanese P3 are en route to their assigned search areas.
• The last of these aircraft will depart the search area about 11pm (AEDT).

E: [email protected]
Video update to follow and posted in media kit.

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