The Economist: Dashed hopes

A LITTLE light is slowly being shed on the mystery disappearance of flight MH370. The Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 vanished 16 days ago during a flight between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing. Distraught relatives of the mostly Chinese 239 passengers and crew, increasingly angered by a lack of information, received a call and text message on March 24th from Malaysia's government: the plane and all aboard were lost "beyond all reasonable doubt". At a press conference shortly thereafter Najib Razak, Malaysia's prime minister, confirmed the sad news.

Those hoping for improbable news that their loved ones might yet return have had their hopes dashed. But for observers the announcement confirmed what has seemed likely for some days: that the plane had crashed in the southern Indian Ocean. MH370 was last heard from when the co-pilot sent a short radio message shortly before the plane unaccountably turned off its route. Then communication by radio, and through a transponder that sent information to ground radars, ceased. Malaysian military radar tracked the plane as it flew into the Indian Ocean. After that only ACARS, a system that usually relays engine and other flight data, left a clue to the plane's whereabouts: a series of "pings" picked up by the system's satellite that put it in one of two "corridors" (see map). Now fresh analysis of that "ping" data by Inmarsat, the satellite's British operator, puts the plane to the far end of the southern corridor, off the coast of western Australia.

That always seemed the likeliest area to search for the plane, given that the northern route bristles with military radars which would have picked up the plane had it travelled over land. And the available fuel, as Inmarsat has also concluded, would have put it there too if the jet had flown in a straight line at cruising altitude.

The search in the area, however, has so far proved inconclusive despite satellites images from Australia, China and France picking up debris in the sea there. A Chinese plane has also spotted "suspicious" flotsam, and an Australian plane has reported seeing objects in the water. But so far, no vessel has found any of the debris, which would make it possible to determine whether it is part of the plane or merely some of the vast amount of debris that floats around the world's oceans.

So despite the news, the search for the missing plane has not advanced all that far. Most observers had accepted for some days that the plane had crashed, killing all aboard, somewhere in the southern Indian Ocean. The barrage of theories accounting for the disappearance, from the sensible to the deranged, has also slowed in recent days. The Malaysian authorities are still sticking to the explanation that "deliberate action" is behind the disappearance, with the finger of suspicion pointing at the pilot or co-pilot. Conspiracy theorists will be relieved to note that, although the plane's whereabouts may have been established, the reason for its going missing is still a complete mystery.

Read our previous coverage of MH370 and the three things that should be done to prevent planes from disappearing.