Malaysia Prime Minister: Flight 370 'Ended in Southern Indian Ocean'

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Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, center, Malaysia's minister for transport Hishamuddin Hussein, left, and director general of the Malaysian Department of Civil Aviation, Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, right, delivers a statement to the media regarding missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner MH370, Saturday, March 15, 2014 in Sepang, Malaysia.

Image: Wong Maye-E/Associated Press

By Kate Sommers-Dawes2014-03-24 14:12:54 UTC

The Prime Minister of Malaysia, Najib Rajak, gave a press conference at 10 a.m. ET that Malaysia Airlines flight 370 "ended" in the Indian Ocean, effectively putting an end to speculation that survivors could still be found.

"MH370 flew along the southern corridor and that it’s last position was in the middle of the Indian Ocean west of Perth," Prime Minister Najak said. "This is a remote location, far from any possible landing sights. It is therefore, with deep sadness and regret that I must inform you that according to this new data Flight #MH370 ended in the Southern Indian Ocean.”

Just before the conference began, the BBC reported that the following text message was sent to family members of passengers on the missing flight: "Malaysia Airlines deeply regrets that we have to assume beyond any reasonable doubt that MH370 has been lost and that none of those on board survived. As you will hear in the next hour from Malaysia's Prime Minister, we must now accept all evidence suggests the plane went down in the Southern Indian Ocean."

Adrienne Mong, an NBC news correspondent, tweeted this screenshot of the text message families received:

See also: Did Malaysia Airlines Plane Escape in the 'Shadow' of Another Jet?

Flight 370 vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing, China. The 16 days since the Boeing 777 vanished with 239 people on board have been fraught with false leads and constantly-changing details about the flight's path.

Topics: Malaysia airlines, U.S., US & World