MH370 skirted Indonesia apparently to avoid radar

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KUALA LUMPUR - Missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 flew around Indonesian airspace after vanishing from Malaysian military radar, CNN quoted an unnamed senior Malaysian official as saying Sunday.

Malaysian authorities, citing expert analysis of satellite, radar and other data available, concluded earlier that the ill-fated March 8 flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing ended in the southern Indian Ocean.

According to previously revealed information, the Boeing 777 aircraft turned back after disappearing from civilian radar in Vietnamese airspace, and was detected by Malaysian military radar in the northern Strait of Malacca before vanishing from all radar screens.

After reviewing radar data provided by neighboring countries, investigators have now found that the jetliner curved north of Indonesia before turning south toward the southern Indian Ocean, CNN quoted the Malaysian official as saying.

The latest finding added to the already prevailing assumption that the plane was flown deliberately along a route designed to avoid radar detection. But so far investigators have not ruled out other possible causes of the plane's diversion, such as mechanical problems.

It remains unknown who the investigators think might have piloted the aircraft, which carried 239 people on board, including 154 Chinese passengers, after it vanished from radar.

In parallel with the investigation, a massive multinational search effort has been under way far west of Australia's western coast. But on the 30th day of the plane's disappearance, there is still no confirmed evidence of its whereabouts.

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