Was #MH370 The Victim of Terrorism?

As you know this is a sports blog which comments on sports issues. However, given that it is the only avenue I have to share my views, I thought I'd dedicate a quick article and my thoughts to a story that has certainly dominated the headlines in the last day or so, particularly since it is so dear to me as a Malaysian by birth who has flown Malaysia Airlines many times with positive memories, as well as a bit of an aviation enthusiast.

Please note that most of this information is based on information provided already to the media and the theories I am about to share are just theories of mine.

As we all know, Malaysia Airlines flight number MH 370 took off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 12:40am Saturday local time. It was due to arrive at Beijing Capital International Airport at 6:30am local time, making it a less than 6 hour flight. However, less than 2 hours into the flight, the Boeing 777-200 disappeared from Malaysian radar contact in similar fashion to the doomed Air France flight 447 that disappeared after leaving the shores of Brazil.

239 people were on board MH 370 including 153 Chinese nationals, 50 Malaysians, 6 Australians, 3 Americans and 2 New Zealanders.

An Austrian and Italian national were also noted on the plane manifest but as it transpired, their passports had been stolen in Thailand by passengers who bought tickets via China Southern Airlines who were codesharing this flight.

These passengers plus another 2 are under investigation by Kuala Lumpur International Airports at the moment for possible suspicious nature and even the FBI has sent its agents to help the investigation given that 3 Americans may have been entwinned in a possible act of terrorism.

I think possible should be probable for many reasons.

Malaysia Airlines has only had two crashes in its history with fatalities - the crash of 4 December 1977 involving a Boeing 737 that was hijacked and crashed near Tanjung Kupang in Johor remains the country's deadliest disaster, while the airline's last fatal crash was back in 1995 when a small Fokker 50 crashed at Tawau Airport killing 34 poeple.

Other than that, Malaysia Airlines is generally considered one of the safest airlines in the world despite some rather unprofitable times. Owned and backed heavily by the Malaysian government, Malaysia Airlines has always managed to maintain its status as one of the best airlines in the world despite making loss after loss each year - if flag carriers are anything to go by, Malaysia Airlines was it even if they didn't quite have the financial muscle like other Asian airlines, e.g. Singapore, Cathay Pacific, Emirates, etc.

Furthermore, the Boeing 777 is considered one of the safest planes ever made, and this particular model was 11 years old and had only one mishap - in 2012 when its nose tip hit another plane at Shanghai airport (a very minor accident by aviation standards). Even if an engine failed, the 777-200 would have continued to fly on one engine and land safely at the nearest possible airport (Hong Kong, Hanoi, etc.)

The fact that there was no distress call sent by the pilots is also alarming as this would have been protocol if there had been a fault on the plane. Considering the experience of Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, this is a very unusual pattern - mind you, the Air France disaster was attributed to pilot fatigue and the inexperience of the captain's deputies in taking control of the flight in difficult weather conditions.

We also know there were no planes in the vicinity around that time that were flying in the opposite direction to MH 370 - there was another plane flying to Tokyo Narita at the time but it was 30 minutes ahead of MH 370 so was not in a position of a collision with MH 370.

Which leaves us with only one possible cause - terrorism.

And the fact that there are 4 passengers under investigation by officials - 2 of them with fake passports suggests that there is definitely something sinister at hand. The only problem right now, is that the motive is not clear - Malaysia and China are certainly not at war with each other, being trade partners and there is no political controversy between the two whereas Pan Am 103 was the heart of Gaddafi's revenge scheme against the United States, and Air India, the target of Sheikhs.

Malaysia Airlines does have a history of high profile hijacking, if tenuous at best but this has to be the only explanation for such a tragedy. However, it is possible that a bomb did go off that blew up the fuselage which certainly would explain the lack of a distress call, and also the possible link to the 10-15km fuel trail in the Gulf of Thailand.

Furthermore, Malaysia is quite an easy vehicle for terrorists - passport controls are lax and visa requirements are very casual. Indeed, it is alarming how 2 passengers could be allowed to travel on stolen passports without being apprehended by police.

Moreover, Home Minister Ahmad Zainidi was quoted criticising the passport officials at KLIA for possibly mistaking an Asian with the Austrian or Italian passports and letting them through without any thought to stop them and report them to authorities.

Whatever happens, we'll never really know for a while yet what happened to MH 370.

#PrayforMH370