An act of piracy theory gains momentum; Malaysian plane was hijacked and landed on dry land and not mechanically exploded and sunk (AP)-KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) -- Piracy and pilot suicide are among the scenarios under study as investigators grow increasingly certain the missing Malaysian Airlines jet reversed course and headed west after its last radio contact with air traffic controllers. The latest evidence suggests the plane didnt experience a catastrophic incident over the South China Sea as was initially suspected. Some experts theorize that one of the pilots, or someone else with flying experience, hijacked the plane or committed suicide by plunging the jet into the sea. A U.S. official said Friday in Washington that investigators are examining the possibility of human intervention in the planes disappearance, adding it may have been an act of piracy. The official, who wasnt authorized to talk to the media and spoke on condition of anonymity, said it also was possible the plane may have landed somewhere. While other theories are still being examined, the official said key evidence suggesting human intervention is that contact with the Boeing 777s transponder stopped about a dozen minutes before a messaging system on the jet quit. Such a gap would be unlikely in the case of an in-flight catastrophe. A Malaysian official, who also declined to be identified because he is not authorized to brief the media, said only a skilled aviator could navigate the plane the way it was flown after its last confirmed location over the South China Sea. The official said it had been established with a more than 50 percent degree of certainty that military radar had picked up the missing plane after it dropped off civilian radar. Malaysias acting transport minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, said the country had yet to determine what happened to the plane after it ceased communicating with ground control around 40 minutes into the flight to Beijing on March 8 with 239 people aboard. He said investigators were still trying to establish with certainty that military radar records of a blip moving west across the Malay Peninsula into the Strait of Malacca showed Flight MH370. I will be the most happiest person if we can actually confirm that it is the MH370, then we can move all (search) assets from the South China Sea to the Strait of Malacca, he told reporters. Until then, he said, the international search effort would continue expanding east and west from the planes last confirmed location.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 19:33:05 +0000
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