Theories behind the tragedy
MURDER/SUICIDE
It has been suggested Captain Zaharie Ahmad Sha or First Officer Abdul Hamid may have deliberately destroyed the jet. The speculation is one or both of the men closed down all communications and set the aircraft to fly on auto-pilot until it ran out of fuel.
Investigations fuond nothing to suggest the men had personal problems, mental illness, or links with terror groups. But it is suspicious the plane’s communication system was disabled and the jet was dropped to a height of 5,000ft to avoid commercial radar after turning away from its flight-path.
TERRORISM
Police investigated the theory the plane was hijacked by terrorists who may have wanted to crash the aircraft into Kuala Lumpur’s Petronas Towers. They went through the backgrounds of all 239 people on board and ground crews who handled the plane for links with radical groups but found nothing suspicious.
DEADLY CARGO LEAK
The plane was carrying lithium-ion batteries in the hold. They are highly flammable and when set alight release deadly carbon monoxide. Engineer Bruce Robertson believes some of the batteries ignited and that this would have killed the passengers and crew.
FIRE
A fire disabling much of the equipment may have resulted in the pilots turning the plane back towards the Malaysian peninsula in the hope of landing at the nearest airport. Satellite data suggests the aircraft did make a turn and theorists say there would be no reason for the pilots to change course unless confronted with an emergency.
AIR PIRACY
Could the plane have been subject to a bungled hi-jiack by criminals intending to hold those on board to ransom? After the discovery of jet, one theory is the Boeing came down near the Maldives, possibly while heading to East Africa – the centre of world piracy.
Maldive islanders insist they saw a large jet with the red stripe of Malaysia Airlines jets, flying low overhead on the morning MH370 lost contact.
CYBER HIJACK
Former Home Office specialist Dr Sally Leivesley said the plane might have been the victim of the world’s ‘first cyber hijack.’ She said the altitude and direction of the aircraft could have been changed, simply by sending radio signals from a small remote device in a mobile phone.
OUTLANDISH IDEAS
These include one that the aircraft was carrying 20 staff of a US firm that makes surveillance technology and China wanted them dead. Another is the jet was shot down by the US who feared it had been taken over by terrorists who were flying it towards the American military base on Diego Garcia atoll in the Indian Ocean.