Update | Foul play fears grow as search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 widened
China and US reinforce hunt for airliner some think was wilfully flown towards Indian Ocean
Investigators are increasingly certain that the missing Malaysia Airlines jet turned back across the Malay Peninsula after losing communication - and that someone with aviation skills was responsible for the unexplained change in course.
The revelation by a Malaysian government official involved in the probe added fuel to the theory that flight MH370 fell victim to foul play early last Saturday morning. "Somebody did something deliberate," said Mikael Robertsson, co-founder of FlightRadar24.
Robertsson said the transponder, which reports its position to ground-based radar, switched off 40 minutes into the flight, something that could happen only if it was turned off or if the plane was destroyed.
US network ABC also reported that US investigators believed the aircraft's data reporting system and the transponder shut down 14 minutes apart, suggesting the plane did not suffer a sudden catastrophic incident.
A US official said investigators were examining the possibility of "human intervention", adding the disappearance may be "an act of piracy".
