Missing plane 'dropped to 12,000 feet'
As search and rescue teams continue to search sightings of debris in the south Indian Ocean, authorities explore the theory that a cabin emergency happened just before Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 disappeared from radar.
An official has told CNN that they believe the sharp left the plane took just after communications were cut off "seemed to be intentional".
The plane also seemed to drop to 12,000 feet while flying through the heavily trafficked corridor, keeping the plane out of sight from other aircraft.
Speaking to CNN, aviation analyst and former inspector general of the US Department of Transportation Mary Schiavo said that the new information was "highly significant".
"It explains so many pieces that didn't fit together before," she said.
"Now, if we have a scenario where something happened, the plane made a dramatic turn and dropped from 35,000 feet to 12,000 feet, this scenario would fit what a pilot would do in the event of a catastrophic on-board event, such as a rapid decompression, a fire, an explosion.
"That's what you would have to do, descend, get down and turn around and try to get back to an airport that could accommodate an ailing plane."
This would tie into other theories that suggested the plane was heading towards Langkawi airport immediately after coming under some sort of distress.
Search teams were now focusing on two areas in the south corridor that experts predicted the plane could have flown after its last known location near the Straits of Malacca an hour after it diverted from its intended flight path.
Ships and planes from several nations swarmed over a lonely corner of the southern Indian Ocean on Monday as mounting evidence of floating debris energised the search for Malaysia's missing passenger jet.
But the roiling seas characteristic of the region threatened once again to foil search personnel who have failed to turn days of tantalising leads into hard evidence that could help solve the baffling mystery of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
China's Xinhua news agency said a Chinese air crew spotted "two relatively big floating objects with many white smaller ones scattered within a radius of several kilometres".
The report added to an Australian aircraft's visual sighting Saturday of a wooden pallet, strapping and other debris, and subsequent French and Chinese satellite information indicating floating objects far off Australia's west coast.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said search teams would investigate the Chinese sightings.
A growing international fleet of military and civilian aircraft has converged on the area, around 2,500 kilometres (1,500 miles) southwest of Perth, supported by Australian and British naval vessels tasked with retrieving any objects from the forbidding waters.
MH370 vanished without warning on March 8 over the South China Sea en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 227 passengers and 12 crew.
Malaysia believes the plane was deliberately diverted by someone on board. But the absence of firm evidence has fuelled intense speculation and conspiracy theories, and tormented the families of the missing.
