KUALA LUMPUR, May 16 — Inmarsat has refuted Malaysia’s claim that it is still holding on to the raw satellite data used to lead MH370 search teams to the Indian Ocean, insisting that it has surrendered all information over to investigators here.
Hours after acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said yesterday that Malaysia does not have the raw data, the British satellite communications firm issued a statement on CNN claiming otherwise.
“Inmarsat’s raw data was provided to the investigation team at an early stage in the search for MH370,” the statement said, according to a news report by the American cable and satellite TV channel this morning.
According to CNN, Inmarsat “blames” Malaysia for failing to release the information.
The firm also went on to defend its data, which has come under heavy criticism by foreign scientists and families aboard the aircraft, saying it has “high confidence” in its analysis of the plane’s last-known location.
It was the analysis of Inmarsat’s data that led to the conclusion that the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 had ended in the southern Indian Ocean, thousands of miles away from the plane’s original flight path to Beijing.
“We have very high confidence in the analysis of this data, which was independently evaluated by the international teams accredited to the official investigation,” the British firm said in another excerpt of its statement carried by CNN.
The Boeing 777 jetliner has been missing for over 70 days since March 8 when it departed Malaysian waters with 239 people on board.
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