Pilot suicide. Mechanical failure. Hijacking. Theories continue to multiply daily regarding Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which disappeared on March 8, 2014.
What we know so far: the Boeing 777 – carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members – disappeared from radar approximately an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia. The plane, heading for Beijing, China, was declared lost by the Malaysian government five hours after take off. It was last detected at a normal cruising altitude of 35,000 feet about 140 miles southwest of Vietnam's southernmost province.
Four days after the flight disappeared, Malaysian officials revealed evidence that the plane had turned toward the Malacca Strait, which put it on the opposite side of the Malay Peninsula, away from its scheduled route.
Combined with the knowledge that that the 777 changed altitude – first reaching 45,000 feet and then dropping to about 23,000 feet – and may have flown for as many as six hours after the last official message received, investigators believe that catastrophic failure is a highly unlikely scenario and the change in direction was, in fact, intentional.
As of this writing, several countries have joined in the search – now spanning many oceans and continents – for the missing jet, but there is still no trace of the aircraft or any concrete explanation to the cause of its disappearance.
Correction: It has been confirmed that Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 crashed in the southern Indian Ocean, west of Perth, Australia. Some debris has been spotted in the area, but has yet to be identified as being from Flight 370.
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