MH370 'Full' Report Gives No Answers, Families Disappointed As Mystery Continues

Malaysia released Monday the "full" report into the disappearance of Flight MH370 but failed to bring closure for the families of those on board the plane as the investigation team was unable to determine what happened to the jet. However, investigators said they cannot rule out the possibility of hijacking as the plane deliberately turned around before disappearing on March 8, 2014.

Kok Soo Chon, the lead investigator, said in the report that Flight MH370 deviated from its path "not because of anomalies in the mechanical system. The turn back was made not under autopilot but under manual control.” He said the civilian and military radar were consistent with each other on this point.

The 150-page document stated that investigators "cannot establish if the aircraft was flown by anyone other than the pilot."

In a Q&A session after the full report was made public, reporters asked about the assertion that they could not rule out interference by a third party to which he said: "We have done analysis and we have come up with findings. We have examined the pilot, the flight officer, we are quite satisfied with the background, training, of the officers.” But he added; “We cannot deny that there was a turn back. We are not ruling out any possibility.”

On Monday, Kok said Captan Zaharie Ahmad Shah had no history of mental or psychiatric treatment, and that there was no evidence conflict issues with friends or family, no drug use, no evidence of troubled relationships with family members. There was also no stress or anxiety detected in the audio recordings from the flight. Earlier, conspiracy theories claimed Shah deliberately crashed the jet in the Indian Ocean as part of his "murder-suicide" plan.

The report also said the aircraft was well-maintained and had no malfunction or defect that could have contributed to the disappearance.

However, the details in the report were called "unsatisfactory" by the next of kin of those on board the jet as no new details were given out by investigators.

“There’s no conclusion, there’s no answers,” one of the next-of-kin said before the public release of the report, according to Channel News Asia. “How can you expect us to believe what’s in there?”

MH370 passenger Anne Daisy’s daughter, Grace, said: “The one point stressed continuously was their job was not to assign blame,” when asked by a Channel News Asia reporter if there were any clear theories that emerged from the briefing. She said the report “did not reveal anything new or earth-shattering.”

She wrote of the Annex 13 Safety Investigation Team, who briefed the next of kin: “Their role and scope came across very limited. The team was formed two months after MH370 disappeared. Therefore certain investigations had already been carried out by Malaysian police and or other bodies/authorities before the team came into being... They appear not have to questioned or challenged what was handed over to them. Nor was any new independent investigation launched....All in all the report did not reveal anything new or earth shattering. No conclusions were drawn, no blame was assigned.”

While announcing the date of the release of the report, Minister Anthony Loke, had said: "Every word recorded by the investigation team will be tabled in this report. We are committed to the transparency of this report... It will be tabled fully, without any editing, additions, or redactions."

Flight MH370 went missing on March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board while on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. A multimillion-dollar search for the missing plane yielded no concrete clues as to the plane's whereabouts.

The biggest lead in the investigation came when a plane flaperon was found by villagers on Réunion Island. Later, authorities confirmed the flaperon belonged to the missing jetliner. Several other debris pieces washed up on shores of nearby islands, including Mauritius. Of the several pieces, some were confirmed to be from a plane.

Investigators said in the report that 27 pieces of wreckage are believed to be from MH370, though only three have been confirmed as parts belonging to that plane. The items of debris have been found as far north as the eastern coast of Tanzania and as far south as eastern coast of South Africa.

Read the full report here.

Earlier this year, Malaysia agreed to pay United States firm Ocean Infinity up to $70 million if it found the plane during a search in a remote part of the southern Indian Ocean. The search ended in May with no sign of the plane.