By Ben Blanchard and Brian Leonal
22 hours ago
By Ben Blanchard and Brian Leonal
Flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing vanished early on
Saturday and a huge search by ships and aircraft from 10 nations has
yet to find a trace of it. While they still cannot rule out a hijacking
or bomb, officials seem increasingly skeptical that foul play caused its
disappearance.
Such doubts have done little to halt conspiracy theories spreading through the media and Internet, especially in the countries from which most passengers hailed: China and Malaysia.
Users of China's popular Twitter-like microblogging service Sina Weibo have discussed theories ranging from an attack by Uighur militants from the country's far western region of Xinjiang to stock market manipulation.
"Maybe it was hit by a meteor?" wrote a user called laxnic. "It would have been a more powerful impact than a missile and would have split the plane into tiny pieces. It would all have been over so fast."
In Malaysia's social media, much talk revolves around the flight code, with users claiming "MH" stands for the Malay words "masih hilang" - still lost.
News that two passengers boarded the flight using passports stolen in Thailand fuelled hijacking theories in both China and Malaysia, although police have since said that they doubt a connection between the pair and the loss of the plane.
"The plane did not crash - at least we've not seen any pictures to suggest this, and no wreckage has been found. It's being held prisoner in some country for political reasons," suggested BoZ_ZiE on Sina Weibo.
Malaysia's pro-government and usually staid New Straits Times quoted a shaman who said the aircraft had been "hijacked by elves" and was suspended in mid-air.
DESPERATE RELATIVES
For some, the speculation feeds an obsession or provides macabre diversion. "Terrorism? Accident? Supernatural?" asks a website called Common Sense Conspiracy, before running through its explanations for MH370's disappearance.
Elsewhere, the website discusses the "imminent" eruption of Japan's Mount Fuji and the possibility that actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, who died of a drug overdose in February, was assassinated.
For others, however, improbable claims reflect a heartbreaking struggle to understand the fate of loved ones.
Chinese media have reported family members calling relatives on the missing flight and hearing the mobile phones ring out before being mysteriously hung up.
Others claimed to have seen relatives still logged onto Chinese social messaging apps such as QQ, and of getting no response to their messages.
Agenda NWO, a YouTube channel dedicated to "awakening the masses to the
elite new world order agenda", uses data from the Flightradar24 website
to conclude that MH370 was shot down by an unidentified military jet
over the Gulf of Thailand.
"Did you see that?" asks the excited narrator. "Now it's gone. Right there, in that area."
PAIN AND SUFFERING
BEIJING/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Shot down by a military jet. Blown up by terrorists. Hijacked by elves.
Ranging from the barely believable to the wildly absurd, popular
theories about the fate of a missing Malaysian airliner circulate widely
even as anguished relatives wait for news of its 239 passengers and
crew.
Such doubts have done little to halt conspiracy theories spreading through the media and Internet, especially in the countries from which most passengers hailed: China and Malaysia.
Users of China's popular Twitter-like microblogging service Sina Weibo have discussed theories ranging from an attack by Uighur militants from the country's far western region of Xinjiang to stock market manipulation.
"Maybe it was hit by a meteor?" wrote a user called laxnic. "It would have been a more powerful impact than a missile and would have split the plane into tiny pieces. It would all have been over so fast."
In Malaysia's social media, much talk revolves around the flight code, with users claiming "MH" stands for the Malay words "masih hilang" - still lost.
News that two passengers boarded the flight using passports stolen in Thailand fuelled hijacking theories in both China and Malaysia, although police have since said that they doubt a connection between the pair and the loss of the plane.
"The plane did not crash - at least we've not seen any pictures to suggest this, and no wreckage has been found. It's being held prisoner in some country for political reasons," suggested BoZ_ZiE on Sina Weibo.
Malaysia's pro-government and usually staid New Straits Times quoted a shaman who said the aircraft had been "hijacked by elves" and was suspended in mid-air.
DESPERATE RELATIVES
For some, the speculation feeds an obsession or provides macabre diversion. "Terrorism? Accident? Supernatural?" asks a website called Common Sense Conspiracy, before running through its explanations for MH370's disappearance.
Elsewhere, the website discusses the "imminent" eruption of Japan's Mount Fuji and the possibility that actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, who died of a drug overdose in February, was assassinated.
For others, however, improbable claims reflect a heartbreaking struggle to understand the fate of loved ones.
Chinese media have reported family members calling relatives on the missing flight and hearing the mobile phones ring out before being mysteriously hung up.
Others claimed to have seen relatives still logged onto Chinese social messaging apps such as QQ, and of getting no response to their messages.
The advent of websites and apps that allow the public to track flights almost in real-time has been a boon for conspiracists.
Like many conspiracy
theories, the conclusion draws on real-life precedents. In 1988, a U.S.
warship mistakenly shot down an Iranian airliner, killing all 290
passengers and crew.
Another
YouTube channel, identified only as DAHBOO77, also used what it claimed
was Flightradar24 data, this time to show MH370 flying over Vietnam with
another aircraft close on its tail, before vanishing south of China's
Hainan Island.
PAIN AND SUFFERING
In Malaysia, which had 38 nationals on the flight, some have been offended by loose talk about MH370's fate.
A Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party politician apologised on Twitter after
suggesting the plane had disappeared in a "New Bermuda Triangle" in
Vietnamese waters.
"If, at
all, my comments did cause unnecessary disturbance and disheartened
feelings, my greatest apologies," tweeted Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin.
And in a statement issued on Monday, the Uyghur American Association
called for a halt to speculation that MH370 was downed by Uighur
militants, which "only aggravates the pain and suffering of the loved
ones whose relatives were on board".
Among the missing passengers is a celebrated Uighur artist called Memetjan Abla.
On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang urged people to
stay calm and stop spreading rumors about the missing plane.
"There are many different pieces of information at present, dazzling
the eyes and making people not know what to do," he told reporters.
(Writing by Andrew R.C. Marshall; Additional reporting by Stuart Grudgings in Kuala Lumpur; Editing by Alex Richardson)
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