ON 8 MARCH 2014, MALAYSIA AIRLINES FLIGHT 370 TOOK OFF FROM KUALA LUMPUR INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT BOUND FOR BEIJING. LESS THAN AN HOUR AFTER TAKEOFF, SOMEWHERE OVER THE SOUTH CHINA SEA, THE PLANE SIMPLY VANISHED. ONE EYEWITNESS SAW A BURNING PLANE CRASH INTO THE SEA.
But confusing radar signals tracked an aircraft taking an erratic course across the Malaysian peninsula, then on to the Andaman Sea. Did it crash there? Or did it fly on to land safely in disputed lands of Central Asia, or the top-secret CIA 'black site' on Diego Garcia?
Data from the Rolls-Royce engines tracked by Inmarsat was said to indicate that it might have ditched in the furthest reaches of the South Indian Ocean. We know more about the surface of the moon than the bottom of the sea there. And the weather and currents are so bad, it may never be found. Convenient? Two years later, the Australians are still searching - at the cost of billions - and have found nothing. But was the search in such a remote place part of a cover-up to distract the world's attention because the US Navy had, in fact, shot the plane down?
A huge plane, along with 227 passengers and 12 crew, cannot simply have vanished. The Worldwide Web is a-buzz with conspiracy theories. Was the disappearance of MH370 related to the downing of MH17 over the Ukraine four months later? Some have suggested that it was the same plane...
Or is the loss of MH370 more akin to the crash of Germanwings Flight 9525, after deranged pilot Andreas Lubitz deliberately flew the plane into the side of a mountain in the Alps, killing all on board...
Since the invention of radio, radar, satellite navigation and the internet, the world has become a smaller place. The answer must be out there. Or, perhaps, hidden within the pages of the secret files...
