With the Malaysian government reopening talks to resume looking for MH370, the saga of the flight that mysteriously disappeared in March 2014 is set to continue for the foreseeable future.

Disappearance

On March 8, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared while flying from Kuala Lumpur International Airport to Beijing.

After last communicating with air traffic control 38 minutes after takeoff, the aircraft disappeared from radar screens.

Military radar systems tracked the plane heading off course before disappearing between Thailand and Indonesia, over the Andaman Sea.

With 227 passengers and 12 crew aboard, six of whom were Australians, it was the deadliest incident in Malaysia Airlines history — surpassed four months later when a flight was shot down over Ukraine — and remains the deadliest involving a Boeing 777.

Most of the passengers aboard, more than 150, were from China.

Debris, confirmed to be from the aircraft, has washed up as far as the coast of Africa and on islands throughout the Indian Ocean.

The ensuing searches made it the most expensive air crash in history, costing over $200 million.

Debris from flight MH370 washed up along the coast of Africa and on islands in the Indian Ocean. Photo: AAP

Wild theories

MH370’s disappearance and a lack of concrete answers from official investigations have spawned several theories, ranging from probable to straight-up conspiracies.

Rupert Murdoch, owner of Newscorp and Fox News, claimed in a series of tweets that the plane had likely been hijacked by “jihadists” and was potentially being hidden in Pakistan.

Tweet from @rupertmurdoch

Some air-safety experts and world leaders, however, believe that the pilot of the plane, Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, committed a suicide/mass murder event.

Former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott, who led Australia at the time of the disappearance, is one of them.

“My very clear understanding, from the very top levels of the Malaysian government, is that from very, very early on, they thought it was murder-suicide by the pilot,” he said in 2020.

“I’m not going to say who said what to whom, but let me reiterate, I want to be absolutely crystal clear, it was understood at the highest levels that this was almost certainly murder-suicide by the pilot.”

A report from the Malaysian government in 2018 supported this theory, stating the plane had turned back after takeoff “not because of anomalies in the mechanical system. The turn-back was made not under autopilot but under manual control.”

Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak told Malaysian news that officials had considered the scenario plausible, although chose not to make it public.

“It would have been deemed unfair and legally irresponsible since the black boxes and cockpit voice recorders had not been found and hence, there was no conclusive proof whether the pilot was solely or jointly responsible,” Razak said.

“Again I must stress that this possible scenario was never ruled out during the search effort and investigations, where no effort was spared.”

New developments

As the 10th anniversary of the disappearance approaches, Malaysian officials have invited a United States ocean exploration company to discuss a future search for the main wreckage of the plane.

Ocean Infinity has previously been contracted to search the southern Indian Ocean in 2018 and has offered a “no find, no fee” option to Malaysia.

Malaysian transport minister Anthony Loke said his government “is steadfast in our resolve to locate MH370”.

“We really hope the search can find the plane and provide truth to the next-of-kin.”