Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 CRASHED Without SURVIVORS - Prime Minister

Relatives of passengers and crew have been informed of the 'heartbreaking' news that Flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean, the Malaysian Prime Minister has announced.

Najib Razak told a press conference new analysis by the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch and tracking firm Inmarsat indicated the flight ended in the southern Indian Ocean.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 vanished from civilian radar screens less than an hour after take-off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing with 239 people on board on March 8. Continue...

No confirmed sighting of the plane has been made since, but much debris has been found in remote waters off Australia which might be part of the missing plane.

According to Sky News, the families of the passengers on the missing plane are now due to be booked on to flights to take them to Australia.

Dressed in a black suit, Najib announced the news in a brief statement to reporters today, saying the information was based on an unprecedented analysis of satellite data from Inmarsat.

He said the data indicated the plane flew 'to a remote location, far from any possible landing sites'.

He said: '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.'

Mr Razak said that British firm Inmarsat had employed 'a type of analysis never before used in an investigation of this sort'.

The new data revealed that MH370 flew along the southern corridor where investigators had said the plane could have travelled along, based on pings sent several hours after it disappeared on March 8.

Investigators had drawn up two huge search areas in two large arcs - a northern corridor stretching from Malaysia to Central Asia and a southern corridor extending down towards Antartica.

Inmarsat was not immediately available for comment, while the AAIB referred any inquiries to the Malaysian authorities, who they referred to as the 'lead investigators'.

The announcement was made as an Australian navy ship was on its way today to retrieve two new objects spotted by military aircraft in the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet.

HMAS Success was expected to reach the two objects by tomorrow morning at the latest, Malaysia's government said, as a mounting number of sightings of floating objects raised hopes wreckage of the plane may soon be found.