FAMILY members and international media waited with bated breath yesterday afternoon, as investigators gathered to announce the release of a new report on missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

Very little new information was shared, barring the fact that officials confirmed that the Boeing 777 was intentionally taken off course, manually turning off the autopilot, though they could not determine who was responsible, nor why, nor where the plane ultimately went.

MH370 disappeared with 239 passengers on board, traveling between Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014. It’s called the world’s greatest modern aviation mystery, as no clues as to why the plane diverted so sharply off course have allowed investigators to reach any kind of conclusion.

Kok Soo Chon, tasked with being the head of the NH370 safety investigation team, told reporters that answers were only likely to come if and when the wreckage is ever found.

Search teams called off their latest endeavor, a three-month search lead by an American firm called Ocean Infinity. It covered over 112,000 square kilometers of the southern Indian Ocean, and turned up no new findings.

This is the second search that investigators have attempted in recovering any wreckage, the last being a joint effort between Australian, Chinese and Malaysian authorities last year. Costing nearly US$150 million, it spanned an area of 120,000 square kilometers, and also proved fruitless.

Experts believe that the Boeing’s transponder was deliberately turned off, before it was flown towards the Indian Ocean. However, they cannot confirm who turned it off, or why.

Veering thousands of kilometers off course, investigators believe that the plane eventually plunged into the Indian Ocean.

The last communication from the plane was from the Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah who signed off with “Good night, Malaysian three seven zero,” while leaving Malaysian airspace.

A final report by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) last year showed that Zaharie had flown a route on his home flight simulator six weeks earlier that was “initially similar” to the one actually taken by MH370, something that many have been keen to point out when the topic of a premeditated flight path deviation comes up. Kok says that investigators were satisfied with the mental health and training of both the pilot and his first officer. (SD-Agencies)