With the search area widening and the potential cause of the vanishing jet narrowing down to the actions of someone on board the aircraft, those briefed on the inquiry gained a better understanding of the unfolding investigation during a week of little public disclosure.
The jet vanished from radar screens on Sunday morning with 162 people on board, as it approached violent weather over the Java Sea about 40 minutes into a two-hour flight between the Indonesian city of Surabaya and Singapore.
The focus in the hunt for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has turned again to events surrounding the final message received from the cockpit, and a crucial 30 minute window which could be the key to unlocking the mystery of how the jet vanished nine days ago.
Mr. Ivanov said tonight that Mr. Putin had ordered him urgently to seek details of Ukraine's launching of an SA-5 antiaircraft missile on Thursday at 1 41 p.m. Moscow time, four minutes before the Siberian jet vanished from radar screens over the Black Sea.
The Saratov Airlines jet vanished minutes after take-off and crashed near the village of Argunovo, about 80km (50 miles) south-east of Moscow.
Six days after the Malaysia Airlines jet vanished, there are still no clues about what happened to it despite a wide search including the Indian Ocean.
On board a search for missing plane Jump to media player Six days after the Malaysia Airlines jet vanished, there are still no clues about what happened to it despite a wide search including the Indian Ocean.
Even the battery issue, while perhaps pertinent to the question of why it has been so difficult to find the missing Boeing 777, does not bear on why the jet vanished in the first place.
Martin, 35, was at the controls of the F-4C Phantom when the jet vanished from the radar screen about 10 minutes after taking off at 1 45 p.m. Saturday from March Air Force Base on a routine training mission, an Air National Guard spokesman said Monday.
A high-octane snowstorm that played havoc with travel across the East Coast, from commuter trains to jumbo jets, vanished out to sea Sunday afternoon, leaving millions of people with the stunned feeling they had been hit by an avalanche.
