Last message from missing plane was from co-pilot: authorities

“We are looking at it,” Hishammuddin said when asked if pilot or co-pilot suicide was a line of inquiry.

Jauhari said that psychological and psycho-motor tests were standard procedures for pilot recruitment.

Hishammuddin declined to say whether any of the 227 passengers and 12 crew had any personal problems.

The officials are also looking at the possibility whether the plane - with 239 people on board including five Indians and one Indian-Canadian - had taken advantage of the busy airways over the Bay of Bengal and avoided suspicion of military radars.

Hishammuddin said, “I can confirm that search and rescue operations in the northern and southern corridors have already begun. Countries including Malaysia, Australia, China, Indonesia and Kazakhstan have already initiated search and rescue operations.”

A detailed map of the northern and southern corridors where the search operations were on was released today.

Malaysia got in touch with countries along the northern and southern corridors about the flight. These countries include: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, China, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia and France.