Zaharie Ahmad Shah, the pilot of missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370, is coming under investigation as officials confirm that the lost flight did not crash in the South China Sea, but rather was hijacked and flown for hours toward the Indian Ocean.
Sources said that officials were searching Shah’s home on Saturday, but did not say if the pilot was being investigated as a possible hijacker.
“Reuters report that police are now searching the home of the pilot 53-year-old Zaharie Ahmad Shah,” the UK’s Guardian noted. “A senior Malaysian police official told Reuters they had gone to take evidence that could help with the investigation.”
Zaharie Ahmad Shah joined Malaysia Airlines in 1981 and had more than 18,000 hours of experience flying . He was known to be an aviation enthusiast even outside of his work, with a Facebook page showing pictures of him flying remote-controlled aircraft.
Shah was also known as a handyman, and he posted several how-to YouTube videos like how to waterproof windowsills or repair refrigerators.
It was originally believed that flight 370 disappeared at roughly 1 am local time, 20 minutes after takeoff, but satellite data shows the aircraft last made contact at 8:11 am local time the following day, roughly seven hours after it dropped contact with air traffic controllers.
Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak said based on the new data, Malaysian and international investigators determined that the last communication was in one of two possible corridors — a northern corridor stretching from the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to northern Thailand, or a southern corridor stretching approximately from Indonesia to the southern Indian ocean.
Razak stressed that investigators are still looking at all options, and did not say how pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah could have been involved.
“In view of this latest development the Malaysian authorities have refocused their investigation into the crew and passengers on board,” he said. “Despite media reports that the plane was hijacked, I wish to be very clear: we are still investigating all possibilities as to what caused MH370 to deviate from its original flight path.”
A few days ago, officials released the last words of Malaysia Airlines flight 370 captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah — “All right, good night.” They still do not know exactly what happened from there.
