JOIN USIn spite of an intense and extensive international search for a Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777-200 aircraft, missing in flight since last Saturday, there is still no clue about what happened to the aircraft.
It is extraordinary that a plane with 239 passengers and crew can disappear without a trace for so many days and it remains a mystery for both for aviation experts and lay persons. There is an overwhelming human angle involved in it because it is more than certain that the aircraft has perished either in air or under water, taking hundreds of lives along with it. But the relatives, associates and friends of the unlucky passengers would want definite answers to questions about how the tragedy struck them. The answers are in fact important for all because it is the first time in civil aviation history that a plane vanishes from sight and records for so many days.
Ships, aircraft and satellites of a number of countries have been scanning a large area stretching from the South China Sea to the Andamans for possible wreckage of the aircraft. Searches are being undertaken by submarines under water also. India is also part of the international effort. Some clues and leads which figured immediately in the wake of the disappearance of the aircraft have proved false and have led nowhere. Two passengers had boarded the plane on fake or stolen passports. Some others had not boarded it after reporting for the flight. There were also conflicting reports on the direction of the flight after the plane was last seen on the radar. The latest ideas are of a plunge into the sea in the area near where it was last seen and of a diversion to the Andaman Sea. These have yet to be verified.
In the absence of any definite information about what happened, various explanations and theories ranging from the probable and the possible to the weird and the absurd have been doing the rounds. There is suspicion of mechanical failure, but the aircraft had been found fit after an overhaul a week before the mishap. The possibility of pilot error, a deliberate suicidal action by the pilot or a bird hit has also been conjectured. Other speculations have pointed to a terrorist action or a hijacking gone awry. The questions can be answered only after the debris is found and examined. It is in the interest of airline safety that the mystery is resolved early.