SEPANG, March 15 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak confirmed today that Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 that disappeared off the coast of Kota Baru last Saturday had been deliberately diverted off-course towards the west of Peninsular Malaysia.

The prime minister would not, however, confirm reports claiming that the plane had been hijacked.

“Despite media reports that the plane was hijacked, I wish to be very clear that we are still investigating all possibilities as to what caused MH370 to deviate from its original flight path,” he told an an emergency press conference today at the Sama-Sama Hotel near the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).

While Najib did not confirm that MH370 was hijacked, he indicated that probe will now shift its attention to the people who were flying aboard the Beijing-bound plane.

“In view of this latest development the Malaysian authorities have refocused their investigation into the crew and passengers on board,” he said earlier in his statement.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak on March 15, 2014 confirmed that Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 had been deliberately diverted off-course. — Reuters pic

Shortly after the press conference, the Royal Malaysia Police arrived at the home of MH370 pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53, to conduct a search.

The Beijing-bound Boeing 777 aircraft carrying 239 people has now been missing for a week since it lost contact with the Subang Air Traffic Control (ATC) at 1.30am last Saturday, some 40 minutes after it left KLIA.

Its transponders stopped communicating when it was 120 nautical miles east of Kelantan and when it was crusing at over 30,000 feet.

But the Royal Malaysian Air Force’s (RMAF) radar tracked a plane that appeared to be MH370 in an “air turnback” and recorded the aircraft flying to the Straits of Malacca, before it lost the signal 200 nautical miles northwest of Penang on March 8.

US investigators have since concluded the plane was MH370.

Confirming this, Najib also said that based on new rata data, the last confirmed communication between the plane and a satellite was at 8:11am Malaysian time on Saturday March 8.

“The investigations team is making further calculations which will indicate how far the aircraft may have flown after this last point of contact.

“This will help us to refine the search,” he said.

Earlier today, a local official confirmed the hijacking but said it was still unknown why the aircraft was taken over.

“It is conclusive,” the official told the Associated Press when asked about a possible hijacking.

Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post today reported that the hijacker might be one of the pilots or at least someone else with flying experience.

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