Johor flies flags at half-mast over MH370 tragedy

This followed an instruction from the Sultan of Johor, Sultan Ibrahim, said Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin.

He said all government departments and agencies as well as private sector firms had been instructed to fly the flag at half-mast today.

"The sultan said this was as a mark of respect for the passengers and crew and to express sympathy to their families," he told reporters after attending a briefing on the development of the pineapple industry at the Malaysian Pineapple Industry Board in Johor Baharu.

Mohamed Khaled said the Johor government and people expressed sympathy and condolences to the families of the passengers and crew of MH370.

He said it was hoped that all the families would come to terms with the situation with calmness and patience.

Flight MH370, carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew, left the KL International Airport at 12.41 am on March 8 and disappeared from radar screens about an hour later while over the South China Sea. It was to have landed in Beijing at 6.30 am on the same day.

A multinational search was mounted for the aircraft, first in the South China Sea and then over a large tract of land and sea west of Malaysia, including the Indian Ocean, when it was learned that the plane had veered off course and flown for seven hours after someone deliberately switched off the communication system on board.

The search then focused on two corridors, namely the northern corridor which stretches from the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to northern Thailand, and the southern corridor which stretches from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean.

After satellite imagery showed objects which looked like debris, military aircraft and ships of the multinational search team proceeded to the area in the southern Indian Ocean.

Following an unprecedented type of analysis of satellite data, United Kingdom company Inmarsat and the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) informed Najib that they had concluded that Flight MH370 flew along the southern corridor and that its last position was in the middle of the Indian Ocean, west of Perth, Australia.