00:41 local time (MYT) Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 departs Kuala Lumpur for Beijing with 227 passengers and 12 crew on board

01:19 The co-pilot and pilot of the Malaysian plane MH370 Final contact with air traffic control occurs when a co-pilot - believed to be Fariq Abdul Hamid - radios: 'Alright, good night.'

01:38 Vietnamese air traffic control become concerned and ask other countries and nearby aircraft to attempt contact

02:15 MH370's position is picked up for the final time by Malaysia military radar - the aircraft is heading north-west across the Andaman Sea

05.30 After four hours of confusion and panic, the alarm is raised and a search and rescue operation is launched

08.19 The last of seven 'ping'-like signals - known in the aviation industry as 'handshakes' - is picked up by satellites over the Indian Ocean, meaning the plane could have travelled along a flight corridor stretching between Thailand and as far north as Kazakhstan

11.14am The loss of aircraft is confirmed at a press conference

It emerges that two of the passengers on board MH370 were travelling on stolen passports, sparking terrorism fears. However, it later transpired the pair were asylum seekers on their way to Europe.

The search, which is concentrated on the South China Sea area, intensifies after images of objects floating in the water are picked by a satellite. However, it turns out to be the first of many false leads. The search expands to 27,000 nautical square miles to include the Strait of Malacca, with a total of 12 countries participating in the operation.

After examination of 'pings' picked up by satellite for four hours after the plane vanished, the investigation re-focuses on a new potential search area in the Indian Ocean. The signals indicate the plane was capable of communication, but the data would be unlikely to include a precise location.

Aiport security CCTV of Zaharie Ahmad Shah and Fariq Hamid, the pilot and co-pilot of the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 A press conference held by the Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak reveals 'deliberate' action was taken on board flight MH370, which includes the aircraft diverting from its planned route and the disabling of its communications system. Analysis from the final satellite signals from the plane's 'pings' places the aircraft in one of two 'corridors': one heading north from Thailand to Kazakhstan and another south from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean. The search in the South China Sea is called off.

A total of 25 countries are now involved in the search operation, which is now focused on the two corridors, and investigations begin on the crew, passengers and aircraft engineers. Suspicion falls on the flight's pilot, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, after police find a flight simulator in his house. Malaysia police chief says they are focusing on four possible areas of focus: hijacking, sabotage, personal and psychological problems.

Several people living on the island of Kudahuvadhoo, in the South Indian Ocean, claim they saw a plane matching MH370's description flying low over the Maldives on the morning of March 8, several hours after the aircraft disappeared. However, their evidence is discounted by Malaysian investigators. It also emerges that files had been deleted from the flight simulator found at the pilot's home and that the jet's abrupt u-turn had been programmed into the aircraft 12 minutes before the co-pilot's "Alright, good night" sign-off.

Satellite imagery reveals possible debris, approximately 2,500km south west of Perth, western Australia. However, according to Australian authorities, the water is 'several thousand metres deep' and poor visibility could hamper the search.

More possible debris is picked up by Chinese satellites - an object is spotted about 120km south of where an Australian satellite captured similar images two days earlier.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak confirms the fate of the flight, revealing that fresh analysis of satellite data shows the flight went down with passengers and crew members in the southern Indian Ocean, west of Perth - a remote location, far from any possible landing sites. The families of those on board are told - by text message - to assume that there are no survivors.