Satellite data: plane flew over Indian Ocean, likely crashed

British satellite company Inmarsat releases definitive data showing that the plane ended its flight somewhere in the middle of the southern Indian Ocean. The process uses complex mathematical analyses called the Doppler effect to infer where the flight may have ended, presumably plunging into the ocean. Based on the report, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announces that no one is believed to have survived the flight’s presumed crash.

This is a remote location, far from any possible landing sites. 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.

Oceanographer Erik van Sebille says that the “extremely hostile” conditions of the southern Indian Ocean would make search efforts difficult. The waves, winds and currents in that region are among the strongest on the planet.

The whole ocean down there is like a pinball machine. It is difficult to track or predict where water goes, or do what is really important now, which is to backtrack where water came from.