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It has been a year since Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, carrying 239 passengers, disappeared without any trace fuelling conspiracy theories.
The Boeing 777 lost contact with air traffic control shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur, bound for Beijing, early on March 8, 2014, as it flew across the Gulf of Thailand close to a navigational waypoint called Igari.
Just about everything that happened thereafter is hotly debated.
These are some of the theories:
>> Crashed in Southern Indian Ocean
Official investigators using analysis from British firm Inmarsat of “pings” to its satellite from MH370, combined with data direct from the plane before it stopped transmissions, conclude the plane had flown south after it dropped off Malaysian military radar and crashed in the southern Indian Ocean.
>> Accidentally shot down
This theory was the thrust of the first book published on the incident, ‘Flight MH370 The Mystery’. London-based author Nigel Cawthorne said the plane may have been accidentally shot down during joint US-Thai military exercises in the South China.
>> It’s in Russia
Former pilot and regular CNN aviation expert Jeff Wise speculates that MH370 flew north along national borders to avoid radar before landing in Kazakhstan as part of a Russian-engineered plot. Wise’s theory is dependent on somebody on board the plane tampering with key satellite transmission data to give the impression it flew south. He noted the relevant instruments could be accessed by a panel in the cabin and that there were three Russians on board. Wise acknowledges he can offer no motive to explain why Russia would want to steal a Malaysian jetliner.
>> It’s in Pakistan for use of terrorism
A retired US lieutenant general spread the theory the plane was flown to Taliban-controlled Pakistan, to be used to carry weapons of mass destruction for an attack on Israel.
>>Abducted by aliens
Does this need any explanation?