Inmarsat downplays role in MH370 hunt

British satellite telecom company Inmarsat said it only played a contributing role in the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 investigation, despite the Malaysian government's announcement that a final conclusion was drawn from Inmarsat data.

Jonathan Sinnatt, a spokesperson for Inmarsat, said the Malaysian government may have drawn its own conclusions about MH370 having ended in the southern Indian Ocean based on Inmarsat data and other information.

"We provide our information to the Malaysians, and they combine that with all the other information which they have, which we wouldn't know about, and then they draw their conclusions from that and make their own announcements on that basis," Sinnatt said.

"We aren't a party to what the Malaysians announced, that's up to them, because they see the full picture. We just contribute one set of information."

Cecily Liu and Zhang Chunyan