On March 8th, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 went missing and was never heard from again.

Even though the search continues, it seems to grow more hopeless by the day.

The mounting frustration at the lack of clarity as to what went wrong has resulted in numerous accusations of incompetence. Much of the anger and criticism has been leveled at the Malaysian government specifically.

Many onlookers, but most especially the grieving families, want to know how things could have been so mishandled.

With the release of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 preliminary report, we are given a small glimpse into what happened on the day that the jetliner went missing.

Red herring in hunt for MH370 highlights air traffic flaws http://t.co/Cq1OKfPTSc pic.twitter.com/OgtbISyKSy

— Video Forensics (@Video_Forensics) May 2, 2014

The report was prepared on April 9th, but was not released to the public until Thursday. It is remarkably brief at only five pages and contains mainly information that has been public knowledge for some time.

However, there is one key piece of information in the report that is truly disconcerting.

After Ho Chi Minh Air Traffic Control reported that Flight MH370 had not made its required radio contact, approximately four hours passed before any kind of search or rescue effort was launched.

Even more disturbing than this, the brief report fails to adequately explain exactly what Malaysian officials were doing during that four hour window of time.

The report also lacks any indication of what efforts the Malaysian government are making with regards to a recovery effort at present.

#MH370 DS Hishammudin said will held another PC@5pm later tday to elaborate further on the search of missing flight pic.twitter.com/WW4jMduO1O

— Thiben (@JPThiben) May 2, 2014

It seems to confirm the worst fears many have held for weeks: That the inept response by Malaysian officials may very well be to blame for the inability to organize a successful rescue mission. The time wasted in those four hours may also have directly contributed to the inability to find the plane even now.

Top pick on #STAsiaReport: #China kin of #MH370 angry that #MAS will stop catering hotel stays http://t.co/VlPU5ffsvF pic.twitter.com/JH5HZp1Xhw

— ST Foreign Desk (@STForeignDesk) May 2, 2014

In addition to the preliminary report, passenger and cargo manifests and audio recordings of flight communication with air traffic control were also released.

Image via YouTube