Questions linger after somber announcement

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Although Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has announced that flight MH370 has crashed into the southern Indian Ocean, there are still a lot of unknowns surrounding the fate of the plane.

The conclusion the Malaysian authorities reached was based on an analysis of the Air Accidents Investigation Branch and Inmarsat using satellite imagery, Wu Peixin, an aviation expert in Beijing, told China Daily on Monday.

"However, as far as I know, no one outside the two organizations and the Malaysian government has seen solid evidence such as parts of the aircraft's debris," he said.

Wu said he believes that the AAIB and Inmarsat have been working on imagery obtained by civilian satellites, rather than military ones, that have more reliable high-resolution pictures.

So even nations with advanced technology of maritime search, such as the United States, would have to use military aircraft to find traces of the possible debris.

Wu's opinion was shared by Wang Ya'nan, deputy editor-in-chief of Aerospace Knowledge magazine, who said there has been no clear evidence that the plane crashed.

The Malaysian government just announced the plane flew southward and crashed, but it didn't explain how they came to that conclusion, he said.

The current information should be analyzed by satellite specialists and confirmed by more countries involved in the search, said Song Xiaojun, a military commentator in Beijing.

The prime minister's announcement indicated the Malaysian government agreed with the AAIB's conclusion, which claimed the flight had crashed, he said.

Yin Zhuo, a military expert with the Chinese navy, said the final conclusion should be based on data from flight data from the plane's black box.

Only after the search forces find debris in the ocean from the aircraft and retrieve the black box, can the final conclusion be made, he added.

Questions:

1. Who is the Malaysian prime minister?

2. Who is deputy editor-in-chief of Aerospace Knowledge magazine?

3. Did the Malaysian government explain how they concluded the plane flew southward and crashed?

Answers:

1. Najib Razak.

2. Wang Ya'nan

3. No.

About the broadcaster:

Anne Ruisi is an editor at China Daily online with more than 30 years of experience as a newspaper editor and reporter. She has worked at newspapers in the U.S., including The Birmingham News in Alabama and City Newspaper of Rochester, N.Y.