The search continues but the lack of wreckage for Malaysian Air flight MH370, especially flight recorders has only with the lack of information generated the wackiest of conspiracy theories ranging from space aliens (5% of Americans surveyed believe this) to Ed Snowden, where lack of information has led to disinformation. This article collected some of the strangest, validating good reasons not to use Reddit:
The subsequent crash of flight MH17, shot down over eastern Ukraine last summer, added to speculation, while a lack of clarity from Malaysian officials about the earlier mystery allowed rumours to flourish. Relatives of some passengers on board the flight offered a $3m reward for information in the belief that details of the investigation are being withheld from them. Even the Malaysian opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, accused his country's government of holding back "missing bits of information", giving fuel to the conspiracy theories. He asked how a country with "one of the most sophisticated" radar systems in the world could simply lose track of an aeroplane. Similar doubts have been expressed by the chief executive of Emirates, Tim Clark.
MH370 and MH17 were in fact the same plane One theory that has gained traction over the summer is the suggestion that the airliner that crashed in a field in Ukraine was in fact the lost flight MH370, not the scheduled flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysia has officially declared the disappearance of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 an accident and its passengers and crew presumed dead, 327 days after it vanished.
The announcement cleared the way for the company to pay compensation to families, but provoked fury among relatives of the 239 people on board, some of whom believe there is still a chance their loved ones may be alive. Several said they could not accept the decision.
Civil aviation chief, Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, said the search effort had pursued every credible lead and reviewed all available data, but had failed to locate the plane. He insisted the hunt for the wreckage would continue.
He said that Malaysia was officially declaring – “with heaviest heart and deepest sorrow” – that those on board had lost their lives, given the length of the search and the highly unlikely prospects of survival in the remote stretch of the Southern Indian Ocean where the plane is believed to have ended its flight.
The plane lost contact with air traffic control shortly after take-off from Kuala Lumpur en route to Beijing on 8 March last year, in what remains one of aviation’s biggest mysteries.
Authorities say satellite data shows the plane diverted from its route and turned south, and that they believe the action was taken deliberately. But despite a mammoth international hunt, no wreckage has yet been found and there is still nothing to indicate why the plane diverted.
Azharuddin said the lack of physical evidence - particularly the flight recorders - meant there was no evidence to substantiate speculation as to the cause of the disappearance. An interim statement on the investigation will be released on or around the one-year anniversary of the accident.