As the families of the 239 victims onboard the missing Malaysia Airlines jet mark nine years since they lost their relatives, the search for answers continues.
The respected aviation security expert, Philip Baum, has given The Independent the five possible scenarios that he believes are most likely. Here, each is evaluated.
Pilot-assisted suicide
Many people have focused on the aircraft’s commander, Captain Zaharie Shah. He was 53 years old when he took the controls of MH370 and departed from Kuala Lumpur, destination Beijing. In his care were 227 passengers and 11 other crew members.
A common theory is that Captain Shah locked the first officer out of the flight deck. He switched off the communications systems that were designed to keep MH370 in touch with air-traffic controllers; donned an oxygen mask; and depressurised the aircraft. At an altitude higher than Everest, the passengers and other crew would soon perish from from oxygen deficiency (hypoxia).
Potential passenger belongings from MH370
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The captain then, the theory goes, flew the aircraft along the frontier between Thailand and Malaysia to avoid raising the interest of the military on either side, before turning south to a location where he believed it would never be found.
But the official report says: “There was no known history of apathy, anxiety, or irritability. There were no…
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