The missing Malaysian Airlines jet was reportedly flying way off course

Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

The missing Malaysian Airlines jet was reportedly flying way off course
(Image credit: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Two senior Malaysian authorities are now saying the missing jetliner radically changed from its intended route and was flying at a low altitude when it disappeared from radar screens early Saturday. The revelation explains why searchers were dispatched to the Strait of Malacca, a bordering body of water that the plane doesn't usually fly over on a Beijing-bound route.

According to the South China Morning Post, radar data from the doomed Boeing 777 was last detected over the busy shipping channel at 2:40 am Saturday — nearly 350 miles off track. "It changed course after Kota Bharu and took a lower altitude. It made it into the Strait of Malacca," a military official said.

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Jordan Valinsky is the lead writer for Speed Reads. Before joining The Week, he wrote for New York Observer's tech blog, Betabeat, and tracked the intersection between popular culture and the internet for The Daily Dot. He graduated with a degree in online journalism from Ohio University.