MH370 pilot’s wife breaks silence, confirms Zaharie’s voice from cockpit, says The Telegraph
More than
three months after the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, the wife of the pilot Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah has finally broken her silence.
Faizah Khan told two New Zealand journalists who are writing a book about the missing plane, that the voice behind the final sign off that came from the flight was that of her husband Zaharie, UK daily The Telegraph reported today.
She said that her eldest son had identified the voice which delivered the final sign-off as that of his father.
It was initially revealed by Malaysian officials days after the disappearance of flight MH370 that the final words from the cockpit were "Allright, goodnight", and that it was spoken by the co-pilot First Officer Fariq Abdul Hamid.
However, on March 31, the Department of Civial Aviation revealed that the last words were "Good night Malaysian three seven zero", and that it was not sure if the voice was that of the pilot or the co-pilot.
The call was made from the cockpit to air traffic controllers in Kuala Lumpur while the aircraft was over the South China Sea and leaving Malaysian air space, less than an hour after take-off.
Flight MH370 with 239 people on board vanished about an hour after departing Kuala Lumpur, shortly after midnight on March 8, heading for Beijing, where it was scheduled to have arrived at 6.30am the same day.
According to The Telegraph, Geoff Taylor, deputy editor of New Zealand's Waikato Times, said he and his co-author Ewan Wilson spoke to Zaharie's brother-in-law Asuad Khan in Penang and then to the 53-year-old pilot's wife.
Asuad had initially claimed the voice from the cockpit was not Zaharie's but after calling his sister in the presence of the two journalists, she confirmed the voice belonged to her husband.
"In the three months-plus since the flight went down no one in the media has been able to get close to Zaharie's widow," Taylor was quoted as saying by The Telegraph.
"We were lucky to get confirmation from her that it was him who was at the helm."
It was reported on Sunday by another UK paper, The Sunday Times, that Zaharie remains a prime suspect over the disappearance of the plane.
Adding that mechanical failure or terrorism has not been ruled out, the paper said the police believed that if it was the result of human action, the captain was the most likely perpetrator.
The report, which was also carried in The Australian, said Malaysia's special branch had focused the inquiry on Zaharie after intelligence checks failed to substantiate any suspicions about the other people on board the aircraft.
The reports quoted a spokesman for the Malaysian police as saying: “The police investigation is still ongoing. To date no conclusions can be made as to the contributor to the incident and it would be sub judice to say so. Nevertheless, the police are still looking into all possible angles.”
Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein rejected the report from The Sunday Times telling local media that "we should not entertain conspiracy theories".
The Inspector-General of Police also criticised the UK paper for its coverage, reiterating that any statement on the investigation over the disappearance of flight MH370 will come directly from the police and not through foreign media. – June 24, 2014.
