Who was the culprit in MH370?

They suspect that the plane's 2014 disappearance and apparent crash was a suicide by the 53-year-0ld Zaharie — and a premeditated act of mass murder. But first, the experts said, they believe that Zaharie depressurized the plane, knocking out anyone aboard who wasn't wearing an oxygen mask.



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Pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah planned mass murder because of personal problems, locking his co-pilot out of the cockpit, closing down all communications, depressurising the main cabin and then disabling the aircraft so that it continued flying on auto-pilot until it ran out of fuel.

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Malaysian police identified the captain as the prime suspect if human intervention was the cause of the disappearance, after clearing all others on the flight of suspicion over possible motives.

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What happened to MH370? No one knows what exactly happened, and there are several conspiracy theories. The flight MH370 took off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia on 8 March 2014 and was flying towards its planned destination, Beijing Capital International Airport in China.

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Despite extensive search operations, the MH370 was never found. Some claims about the MH370 debris washing ashore did pop up now and then, but there was never any conclusive evidence or claims that the debris actually was of MH370. No dead bodies were found either and neither was the plane's black box.

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Several other planes have disappeared in the region including five US bombers that vanished in 1945, but in spite of massive air and sea searches, no trace of the bodies or aircraft was ever found. In 2009 a flight from Rio De Janeiro to Paris crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, killing 228 passengers and crew.

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Some 83 aircraft have been declared “missing” since 1948, according to data compiled by the Aviation Safety Network. The list includes planes capable of carrying more than 14 passengers and where no trace — bodies or debris — has ever been found. Related Graphic: Where Could Flight 370 Be? >>

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The Malaysian passengers on Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 included Datin Biby Nazli Mohd Hassim, Chen Wei Hiong, Karmooi Chew, Ch'ng Mei Ling, Anne Daisy, Dina Mohamed Ramli, Huajin Guan, Puiheng Hue, Lee Kah Kin, Lee Sew Chu and Lim Pou Chua, among others.

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In 2014 all the families of passengers and crew on board MH370 were offered interim payments of US$50,000, non-conditional and regardless of any legal action, which some accepted. But as the third anniversary of the disappearance of the plane nears, no other resolution seems in sight.

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How much did the search cost? In 2014, Australia committed $90 million to the search for MH370, including $60 million to support the underwater search activities. The People's Republic of China committed $20 million in the form of funding and equipment.

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Friends of Zaharie Ahmad Shah, who was the captain of MH370, told The Atlantic that the 53-year-old pilot was depressed and lonely, engaged in one-sided flirting with young women on Facebook, and spent much of his non-flying time pacing empty rooms inside his home.

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Intan Maizura Othaman, 43, whose husband Mohd Hazrin Mohamed Hasnan was among the 239 crew and passengers aboard the plane that has been missing since March 8, 2014, said this in a heart-wrenching tribute to her husband on the ninth anniversary of the plane's disappearance on Wednesday (March 8).

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Malaysia Airlines flight 370 disappearance, also called MH370 disappearance, disappearance of a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet on March 8, 2014, during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

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Malaysia Airlines flight 370 disappearance • Malaysia Airlines flight 370 disappearance, also called MH370 disappearance, disappearance of a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet on March 8, 2014, during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

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Possible causes of the aircraft's disappearance That the signals had likely been switched off from inside the aircraft suggested suicide by one of the crew, but nothing obviously suspicious was found in the behaviour of the captain, the first officer, or the cabin crew immediately prior to the flight.

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Plane crash The most widely accepted explanation for the tragedy was that the plane simply crashed into the sea, potentially due to a mechanical fault. In the subsequent years there have been three pieces of debris positively identified as being from MH370, with a further 30 potential pieces also found.

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Premise. On 8 March 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 and all 239 passengers onboard disappeared without a trace. After nine years, family members, scientists, investigators, and journalists are still actively seeking explanations.

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Not only did this confirm the plane was not intact, but modelling of ocean currents concluded that MH370 crashed in the southern Indian Ocean near Western Australia, and ocean currents then transported debris to Africa a year later.

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The piece of debris was found by the fisherman named Tataly in 2017, after it washed up on the Madagascar shore in 2017 in the wake of tropical storm Fernando. He kept the landing gear door at his home for five years and wasn't aware of its significance. The fisherman's wife was using the door as a washing board.

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All 227 passengers and 12 crew members are presumed dead. A four-year search for the flight included the use of submersible vehicles, drift modeling, and sonar imaging. While the plane was never found, pieces of wreckage have been picked up across the Indian Ocean.

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