On March 8, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, carrying 239 people, disappeared while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. At that time, no one could have imagined that nine years later, the disappearance of this aircraft would still remain a mystery.
The incident occurred on March 8, 2014, after taking off from Kuala Lumpur Airport at 12:41 AM. Flight MH370 operated normally until it last communicated with air traffic control at 1:19 AM over the South China Sea, after which it vanished from civilian radar screens.
Nine years later, what really happened to Flight MH370?
After the incident was discovered, multiple countries joined the investigation and search for the aircraft and its 239 passengers and crew members.
However, after years of searching and spending hundreds of millions of dollars, aside from some debris believed to belong to MH370 and some presumed deceased passengers, no official explanation has been provided regarding the cause of the incident.
In addition, bizarre theories about the fate of the aircraft and its passengers have circulated widely. Among these, several outlandish hypotheses continue to be discussed to this day.
1. Bermuda Triangle
For a long time, the Bermuda Triangle in the Atlantic has captured attention due to its history of numerous aviation and maritime accidents, notably the mysterious disappearance of five bombers in 1945.
The “Bermuda Triangle” theory causes a stir online.
Of course, immediately after the MH370 incident occurred, some people believed that the Malaysian aircraft was lost after straying into a second Bermuda Triangle located in Asia.
Although this theory sounds far-fetched and hard to believe, it became one of the most attention-grabbing hypotheses among social media users at the time of the accident.
2. Cockpit Incident
One of the more plausible theories regarding this incident was proposed by pilot Chris Goodfellow, who suggested that a fire in the cockpit forced the captain to divert west towards Pulau Langkawi, a nearby runway.
According to Goodfellow, the loss of communication with the cockpit was related to an electrical failure, and the crew needed to focus on flying the plane rather than sending distress signals. He also speculated that the pilots may have become incapacitated or suffered from smoke inhalation, allowing the aircraft to fly on autopilot for hours until it ran out of fuel and crashed. This theory is considered reasonable, but no solid evidence has been found to support it.
Some debris believed to belong to MH370.
3. Alien Abduction
In addition to the second Bermuda Triangle theory, rumors of the Malaysian plane being abducted by aliens circulated widely on social media. In fact, a 2014 survey by an American television network revealed that 1 in 10 Americans believed extraterrestrials were behind the mysterious disappearance of MH370.
Accordingly, Alexandra Bruce from Forbidden Knowledge TV used the flight mapping website Flightradar as an example of alien involvement in the disappearance of MH370.
The “alien” theory posted on Reddit received significant attention.
Pointing to a video created by YouTube user DAHBOO7, Bruce claimed that radar readings in the clip “captured signals from something that can currently only be referred to as a UFO.”
The video also recreated the final moments of the aircraft, showing a “mysterious object” flying at high speed. However, the aforementioned object was later identified as Korean Air Flight 672.
4. The Plane Hidden on a Secret Island
At the time the Boeing 777 went down and no debris was found, some speculated that perhaps it had not encountered any issues and proposed the theory that the plane might have been redirected to a small, remote runway for other purposes. Many rumors suggested that the aircraft landed at Diego Garcia, which houses a military base on an island in the Indian Ocean.
A Chinese blogger believes this is the most reasonable theory regarding the plane’s disappearance.
Despite some dismissing this theory, several Chinese internet users remain convinced. Among them, a blogger named He Xin posited that the disappearance of MH370 was part of a CIA plan to control certain individuals or items transported on the flight. He suggested that the plane was forced to land at Diego Garcia, which also explains why family members of passengers heard the phone ringing for hours after the aircraft disappeared.
5. The Crash was Intentional
To date, this is the most convincing theory for many experts. It is reported that many agree that the main scenario involves Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah being behind the incident.
Although no concrete evidence has been presented, French investigators stated in 2019 that Shah appeared to be piloting the plane “until the very last minute.”
Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah is suspected of being behind the incident.
Larry Vance, an aviation expert and former pilot who supports this theory, also provided some evidence he believes adds credibility to this hypothesis. He argued that the crash into the Indian Ocean and the inability to locate the aircraft was meticulously planned.
One of the pieces of evidence Vance presented in his 2018 book was that the captain requested fuel for an additional two hours of flight.
“The estimated flight time of MH370 was only 5 hours and 34 minutes. However, the captain requested enough fuel for 7 hours and 31 minutes, allowing the aircraft to fly for an additional 2 hours and enabling Captain Shah to reach the most remote areas of the Indian Ocean,” Vance commented.
