SEPANG, March 14 — Malaysia would not confirm today any “manual intervention” in the sudden shutdown of two communication systems aboard MH370, saying there could be several reasons that forced the plane to go dark as it did.

Acting Transport Minister Datuk Hishammuddin Hussein said there could be “four or five” possibilities, including whether the aircraft’s systems had been shut down intentionally, while under duress or because of an explosion.

“We are investigating the possibility,” Hishammuddin told a media briefing here, when asked if the systems could have been manually turned off.

“We don’t want to go into the realm of speculation.”

US broadcasting network ABC News earlier today cited two senior US defence officials as saying they are convinced that there was “manual intervention” that led to the shutdown of two communication systems aboard the Boeing 777-20ER.

The two were further quoted as saying that the information indicates the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) plane did not fall out of the sky due to a catastrophic failure of its systems, a theory that had been previously floated after the Boeing 777-200 vanished without a trace.

The report also cited US investigators saying the two modes of communication were “systematically shut down”.

When pressed, Hishammuddin today said the transponder could have been shut off either intentionally, under duress or due to an explosion, among various ways, but repeated that they could not give any confirmation.

“As of today, the transponder did not issue any signal to us. Whether it was turned off intentionally or for whatever reason, we are investigating,” he said.

The defence minister also repeated that Malaysia and other countries involved in the search and rescue operation are sharing normally sensitive data to maximise their chances of finding the Malaysia Airlines-owned Boeing 777-200.

“We are now sharing information we don’t normally share because of national security, with agencies that can assist us... this new information or the availability of the information in our hands is shared with the experts and is being digested.

“As is standard procedure, the investigation team will not release any information until it has been properly verified and corroborated with the relevant authorities, nor do we want to be drawn into specific remarks of unnamed officials that were reportedly made in the media,” he said.

The search scope for MH370 was widened early this morning to include the Indian Ocean, hundreds of miles west of the aircraft’s last known position.

The search expansion came following claims from unnamed US officials of a possible “indication” that the aircraft could have veered off towards the world’s third-largest body of water.

Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported today that the missing plane, originally bound for Beijing, had sent a series of “pings” or electronic pulses, with the last transmitted from a location over water at a cruising altitude.

The US daily also reported that the satellites had also received speed and altitude information about the aircraft from the five or six “pings” before the pulses disappeared, which the experts believe could help them decipher its route and location.

But the unnamed officials involved in the matter, had declined to divulge the specific flight path the plane had transmitted, WSJ reported.

According to the report, an industry official said it was possible that the system sending them had been turned off by someone on board the plane.