Passengers and crew of the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 flight most likely died from suffocation¹ as the plane coasted into the ocean on autopilot, Australian officials have said.

澳大利亚官员称，马航失踪航班MH370上的乘客和机组人员很有可能在飞机坠落前就已死于窒息，而飞机随后在自动驾驶模式下坠入印度洋。

In a new 55-page report, the Australian Transport Safety Board said investigators² arrived at the conclusion after comparing conditions on the flight with previous disasters.

在这份长达55页的报告中，澳大利亚运输安全局表示，调查人员将MH370的状况与此前失事的飞机相比较，虽然在飞机本身方面没有新发现，但得出了上述结论。

The report narrowed down the possible final resting place from thousands of possible routes, while noting the absence of communications, the steady flight path and a number of other key abnormalities in the course of the ill-fated flight.

该报告从上千条预估路线中锁定了MH370可能坠落的位置。另外，该报告还列出了航班失联、航线确定等一系列失常状况。

'Given these observations, the final stages of the unresponsive crew/hypoxia event type appeared to best fit the available evidence for the final period of MH370's flight when it was heading in a generally southerly direction,' the ATSB report said.

澳大利亚运输安全局的报告这样写道：“据观测，现有证据与失联机组人员最后阶段处于缺氧状态的猜测十分吻合，当时飞机正向南航行。”

The new analysis comes more than 100 days after the plane disappeared on March 8 shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing.

此份分析报告距航班失踪已超过100天。3月8日，这架从吉隆坡飞往北京波音777型号飞机起飞不久便失去联系。

Investigators say what little evidence they have to work with suggests the plane was deliberately³ diverted thousands of kilometres from its scheduled route before eventually plunging⁴ into the Indian Ocean.

调查人员表示，目前他们还未掌握证据证明飞机最终坠落于印度洋前曾被人为转向，离开既定航线几千千米，最终坠入印度洋海域。

The next phase of the search is expected to start in August and take a year, covering some 60,000 sq km at a cost of A$60 million ($56 million) or more. The search is already the most expensive in aviation history.

下阶段搜索预计将于8月展开，为期一年，覆盖约6万平方千米，花费至少6千万澳币（5千600万美元）。

The new priority search area is around 2,000km west of Perth, a stretch of isolated⁵ ocean frequently lashed⁶ by storm force winds and massive swells⁷.

此次搜索已经成为航空史上花费最多的一次。最新优先搜索区域在珀斯以西约2000千米处，此片海域常有大风大浪。

Two vessels⁸, one Chinese and one from Dutch engineering company Fugro, are currently mapping the sea floor along the arc, where depths exceed 5,000 metres in parts.

分别来自中国和荷兰工程公司辉固的两艘船目前正沿第七弧线搜寻海底，部分区域水深超过5000米。而30日，招募公司承保海底搜寻工作的投标会就将结束。