The Plot Thickens: Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 Missing

Where is MH370?

I'm sure many of us have been following the news about MH370 since yesterday. This is incident, as it is unfolding now, is probably something all of us wouldn't want to be tuning in to during the weekends, we'd rather be doing other things right now. Sad as it may seem, it is human nature that we do tune in this story, be it curiosity or because we care. Though it's been more than 36 hours that MH370 has been missing, I still hope and pray for those on board MH370.

MH370 status as seen at Beijing International Airport

As of current time, MH370 and its 239 crew and passengers have been missing for more then 36 hours. I can't imagine how it feels like for the family of those missing in this flight. My brother is a pilot and was with Malaysia Airlines, and I just cannot fathom to think if he could have been the one piloting MH370 if he had stayed with MAS, just unthinkable. Every minute that goes by in this incident seems to dwindle in to a bitter unending tragedy of sorts.

The Plot So Far

Based on Malaysia Airlines media updates, below is a chronological view of what's happened
March 8, 2014
12:41AM - Boeing 777-200, flight MH370 departs for Beijing from KL International Airport.
2:40AM - MH370 loses contact with Subang Air Traffic Control.
7:30AM - Malaysia Airlines releases press statement that MH370 had lost contact with the air traffic control. 227 passengers and 12 crew unaccounted for.'
9:05AM - Media statement from MAS regarding the Search and Rescue Teams activation.
10:30AM - MAS releases media statement regarding the passengers and crew of MH370. 2 infants reported on board. 14 nationalities recorded.
2:30PM - No new updates on MH370 itself. MAS says the families of the 237 passengers are being informed of the events.
4:20PM - Passenger nationality list updated to previous. A "Go Team" being sent out to Beijing to assist with families of the 153 Chinese nationals on board MH370.
7:20PM - Passenger manifest released to media and public.

March 9, 2014
2:00AM - Search and Rescue teams from Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam have been dispatched since the previous day and continuing the operation. Air search and rescue teams were to continue their operations again during daylight.
9:30AM - No real whereabouts are disclosed after more than 24 hours since MH370 lost contact. MAS preparing for the worst, gets help from disaster management specialist from Atlanta, USA.
2:43PM - No updates on MH370. MAS says arrangements are being made with the families of those on board to have them flown to Kuala Lumpur if needed.
As of last check, no updates yet from MAS.

In between the updates from MAS, there also press conferences with various responses coming from the Prime Minister of Malaysia, the Defense Minister of Malaysia, Department of Civil Aviation director-general, Royal Malaysian Air force chief, Transport Minister of Malaysia, and the MAS CEO, all giving re-iterations and bits and pieces of information on the incident.

What's been said so far

Now, I've seen and read many reactions to this incident, many even the experts have been quick to question how does a modern plane like a Boeing 777, with it's communication systems and various tracking systems, just seem to vanish in to thin air. To add further speculation to the incident, there were no emergency or distress signals reported coming from MH370 prior to its disappearance. A few hours after the the passenger manifest was released, reports started to come out that there were passengers in the flight using stolen passports. It was later confirmed that, there were 2 passengers using the stolen passports on board MH370 in one of the press conferences. Unconfirmed reports by foreign press also had indicated, the 2 passengers using the stolen passports had bought the tickets together.

After watching and hearing the MH370 press conference at 1:00PM, Royal Malaysian Air Force Chieff Tan Sri Daud had mentioned that there was an indication that MH370 had did a turn back on the radar recording, furthermore Malaysia's Armed Forces Chief General Zulkifeli Mohd. Zin when mentioning about the assets involved in the search and rescue, mentioned that the search and rescue effort would also be done on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia, especially west coast of Penang .

A possible eerie conclusion

With more information regarding the incident coming to light, it's very difficult to discount the fact that this incident is a hijacking, which I believe is still being played out for the whole world to see.

Just a few days ago, I was watching "Non Stop", starring Liam Neeson. The plot basically revolved around an attempted plane hijacking. The MH370 incident just reminded of this movie. 

*Spoiler Alert

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In the movie, Liam Neeson plays Bill Marks, a US Air Marshall who is an alcoholic trying to reconcile with his past issues. In the movie, we see him on a long haul flight from the US to Europe. During this flight he is receives a message through his cellphone (supposedly over a secure wifi network) saying a passenger will be killed every 20 minutes, if a ransom of US$150 million is not transferred to an account within the time limit. We basically see Neesons character trying to figure out who is sending him the extortion messages and in the process killing another dirty Air Marshall who is carrying a briefcase of drugs that happens to contain a bomb. Which by the way, explodes at the end of the movie. In the midst of trying to figure out the bad guys, Marks is framed, and the ground authorities thinks he is the hijacker. Needless to say (Liam Neeson movies usually end with the good guys winning), in the end Marks finds out the 2 bad guys and kills them, and the plane manages to crash land in Iceland safely.

This is just my speculation

As someone who is watching from the sidelines from outside the country, I can't help but think that the whole incident could be part of something larger, something more sinister, I could be wrong and hope it's not what I think it is. Prior to this incident there were a few big headlines in Malaysia and suddenly the whole world is concentrated on this one particular event. Was this just a coincidence? Like the 2 passengers that bought the tickets the same time and were using stolen passports on the flight.

Somehow, these few days, I kept thinking about a saying "Money is the root of all evil" but I think it should be "Humans are the root of all evil". I really hope I'm wrong because it would be a very scary world we would be living in if it's true.


Let's all pray and hope for the safe return for all the those on board flight MH370. Even if it's a just glimmer of hope now.

sources:
Malaysia Airlines - MH370 Updates Page