A report has suggested the co-pilot tried to use his mobile mid-flight (Image: GETTY)
MH370 disappeared without a trace on March 8 2014 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing carrying 239 people. A report leaked by The Australian suggests co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid used his phone before the Boeing 777 disappeared from radar. A telecommunications tower at Bandar Baru Farlim Penang in Malaysia tracked a mobile number registered to Mr Hamid at this time, the report states according to Sputnik.
Mike Keane, a former chief pilot of the budget airline Easyjet, reportedly linked this new piece of evidence to the theory that pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah intentionally took the plane off course.
Mr Keane suggested Mr Shah may have told his co-pilot to go to the cabin before he locked the cockpit and depressurised the aircraft.
He said: “The first officer would have been skilled in responding to depressurisation due to regular training.
“If Fariq had his mobile phone on him, he would have grabbed an oxygen bottle before taking his phone off flight