The Fate of Flight KGL9268

AIR disasters used to be relatively rare, but large-scale tragedies like this seem to occur with increasing and alarming frequency.

Air travel has changed the world, and the majority of us take it quite for granted. I know the principles of physics and aerodynamics make it technically possible for heavier-than-air machines to take off and stay airborne for many hours, but manned flight still mystifies, fascinates and scares me in equal measure. Most of us are quite used to flying across oceans and between continents, and we tend not to think about the consequences of things going wrong.

It’s only natural – very few people ever survive plane crashes.

We might never know exactly what happened to the plane on Saturday, but the tragedy of 224 preventable deaths in horrifying circumstances is further darkened by the long list of possible causes.

Experts have ruled out a surface-to-air missile strike by militants in the region, but not the possibility of a bomb on board the aircraft. What if it was a mistake?

The region is so heavily militarised that any one of many armed forces could have shot it down by accident. It has happened before.

What if it was a deliberate military strike, intended to further destabilise the region and lead to recriminations and war?

The consequences of any of these causes are too terrifying to contemplate – meanwhile the families and friends of the victims suffer heartache and loss. There is no happy ending, but if Flight KGL9268 did suffer a catastrophic technical failure, no more unnecessary deaths need follow.