Investigators into the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight 370 have released a new set of last words that were communicated from the plane before it disappeared on March 8. The words, released Monday, are different from another set of words previously reported to be the last from the plane.
The last words said to the air traffic controller before flight 370 disappeared was "Good night, Malaysian three seven zero," the Malaysian Department of Civil Aviation announced Monday, NBC News reported.
But on March 17, Malaysia Airline officials said the last words were spoken by the plane's co-pilot, Fariq Abdul Hamid.
"All right, good night," Hamid said to controllers before flight 370 vanished.
The Department of Civil Aviation released a statement confirming the word change. The statement was released after the acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein did not give into demands to release a transcript of the words during a Monday press conference.
"We would like to confirm that the last conversation in the transcript between the air traffic controller and the cockpit is at 0119 (Malaysian Time) and is 'Good night Malaysian three seven zero,' " the statement said, according to Reuters.
The reason for the different set of words is not yet known, NBC News reported. Investigators said they will conduct a forensic analysis of the words to determine if this time they came from the pilot or the co-pilot, Reuters reported.
The Beijing-bound flight, which took off from Kuala Lumpur, disappeared in the airspace between Malaysia and south Vietnam. Some 26 countries have worked tirelessly to search the globe for signs of the missing plane, but no official remnants of the aircraft have been found.
The change in last words comes at the same time the Malaysian government is facing backlash over its handling of the search, including holding back information from the families of the 239 passenger plane.
"This investigation is an example of what not to do," James Hall, former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, told NBC News. "Everything they do, they change."
