On March 11, 9.20am, after more than 40 hours and more than 1,000 nautical miles of high-speed navigation, Chinese Navy Jinggangshan reached the area within the Gulf of Thailand, where MH370 lost contact, to start SAR Operations. At 9,40am, they discovered a red life vest and dispatched rubber boats.

The country's air force chief, Gen. Rodzali Daud, released a statement denying remarks attributed to him in a local media report saying that military radar had managed to track the aircraft turning back from its original course, crossing the country and making it to the Malacca strait to the west of Malaysia. The Associated Press contacted a high-level military official, who confirmed the remarks.

Rodzali referred to a statement he said he made March 9 in which he said the air force has "not ruled out the possibility of an air turn back" and said search and rescue efforts had been expanded to the waters around Penang Island, in the northern section of the strait.

It is possible that the radar readings are not definitive or subject to interpretation, especially if a plane is malfunctioning.

The country's civilian aviation chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said he could neither confirm nor deny military's remarks. That suggests disagreement or confusion at the highest level over where the plane is most likely to have ended up.

"There is a possibility of an air turn back. We are still investigating and looking at the radar readings," he said Wednesday

The strait is a busy shipping lane that separates Malaysian from Indonesia's Sumatra Island.

Adding to the confusion, Indonesia air force Col. Umar Fathur said the country had received official information from Malaysian authorities that the plane was above the South China Sea, about 10 nautical miles from Kota Bharu, Malaysia, when it turned back toward the strait and then disappeared. That would place its last confirmed position closer to Malaysia than has previously been publicly disclosed.

Malaysia's air force chief has denied remarks attributed to him that a missing Malaysia Airlines plane was tracked by military radar to the Strait of Malacca, far from its planned route.

Rodzali Daud said such reports in local media were untrue, but it was possible the plane had turned back.

"Alright, good night" - last words from missing plane
The last words from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370 were “Alright, good night”, according to Malaysian government officials at a meeting with relatives of passengers in Beijing. The Straits Times was at the meeting and reported on how it unfolded:

“Alright, good night” were the last heard words from the missing Malaysian Airlines (MAS) flight MH370 - which were revealed for the first time at a meeting in Beijing on Wednesday morning between the Malaysian government and Chinese relatives.

The flight then disappeared from radar screens, said Malaysia’s civil aviation officials at the meeting fronted by its envoy to China, Datuk Iskandar Sarudin, and held in a packed room with nearly 400 relatives at the Metropark Lido hotel.

Anxious and angry over their loved one’s unknown fate and lack of progress in locating the plane, the family members on Tuesday had requested for the meeting with the Malaysian government to seek answers to their questions .

Meanwhile, Time has published this moving piece about one of the Iranian men who boarded the flight with a stolen passport. His Facebook profile is public, and the last post he made in Malaysia said he was “feeling excited.”

The last status update Pouria Nourmohammadi posted onhis Facebook page indicated he was “feeling excited.” The 19-year-old Iranian had good reason to be: he was embarking on the first leg of a flight that would ultimately take him to Germany where his mother was waiting to help him begin a new life.

But his journey was tragically interrupted. His flight, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing early Saturday morning with all 239 people on board. Nearly four days later, no trace has been found of the Boeing 777 in spite of a massive search operation conducted by at least nine countries.

Nourmohammadi had earlier hinted he would be going on a long, life-changing trip. “Because of some problems I will deactivate my account. Friends, seriously, if I’ve done any of you a bad turn, forgive me because maybe …” he posted on his Facebook page on Feb. 24.