New evidence shows that flight MH370, the Malaysian airline heading toward Beijing on the night of March 8, 2014 and has yet to be found, lost electrical power hours before it stopped flying. This is consistent with the theory that MH370 was not due to any deliberate manipulation of the aircraft by the pilot, or even by onboard terrorists physically in control of the plane. The entire electrical system was blown out. Only an emergency beacon, which is located above the heads of the pilots in the cockpit ceiling, temporarily stopped operating and then switched to its own separately located backup power source.
This evidence results from work done in Australia by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.
How would this happen?
The most likely theory is that there was an explosion in the plane. The explosion was either in the forward cargo hold or in a seat in the first class section, or in the hands of a passenger probably in the first class section. The explosion caused a fire, which most likely was observed from an oil rig and reported, depressurizing the cabin, and knocking the flight crew and passengers unconscious.
No cell Phone Calls
This scenario explains why there were absolutely no cell phone calls for help. The crew and passengers were all unconscious or dead.
MH370, when the explosion took place, altered course and seemed to turn back toward Malaysia. It was tracked by Malaysian primary radar. The aircraft transponder, which would have provided much more information, was not working so the Air Traffic Control radar tracking system (secondary radar) did not pick it up.
Who claimed Responsibility?
All of this points to the fact that MH370 was a terrorist operation. Only one group claimed responsibility –a Uighur organization, the East Turkestan Independence Movement (ETIM) also known as the Turkestan Islamic Party.
The Uighur heartland stretches from western China to Kyrgyzstan. Uighur rebel Abdullah Mansour told Reuters from an undisclosed location that the intent [of the MH370 operation] was to bring the Holy Fight to China. “The fight against China is our Islamic responsibility and we have to fulfill it.” More than half the passengers on MH370 were Chinese.
Uighur Man with Flight Training Claimed
At the time a Malay newspaper, Harian Metro, claimed there was one Uighur man on board Flight MH370. According to that newspaper, the man took flight training in Sweden in 2005 and his intent may have been to blast open the cockpit door and take control of the aircraft. If this is true, he did not get the chance to practice his piloting skills, because the plane was immediately depressurized and a fire started from the blast.
There has been no confirmation of this claim other than one person with the same name coming forward to say it was (obviously) not him.
There are plenty of other terrorist organizations in Malaysia including offshoots of al-Qaeda and ISIS, and many of them had been arrested.
There also are Sh’ia terrorists operating in Malaysia which may explain why Massoud Sedaghtzadeh had fled Thailand and arrived in Kuala Lumpur on February 15, 2011 where he was arrested.
Massoud was part of an Iranian team who tried to kill Israeli diplomats in Bangkok the day before. Two of the team, one whose legs were blown off in a related “work accident” were arrested. Two others, one man and one woman, escaped as did Massoud. At the time of the disappearance of MH370 Massoud was appealing his extradition to Thailand. One possible theory is that the “capture” of MH370 by a colleague of Massoud would have created a potential for a trade whereby the passengers on the plane would be released in exchange for Massoud and perhaps the two others under arrest in Bangkok.
The fact is we don’t know which terrorist did it, only that a terrorist almost certainly was involved.
So why then did the Malaysian government do just about everything it could to deflect any attention to a possible terrorist operation? We can only speculate on motives, but if the government was contacted and urged to make a deal to get their passengers back, they may have tried to do so, only to find out later that the terrorists did not have the passengers in their control and that the plane was lost. No government ever wants to admit it was duped, especially a government that was already in a lot of political trouble at home.
On March 15, 2014 Technology and Security published an essay that still explains the fate of the plane, now reinforced by the new evidence. It is reproduced below.
We can, therefore, say the following:
- MH370 was hit by a bomb blast, either in the hands of a terrorist on board the plane or located in the forward cargo hold just under the front section of the aircraft.
- This was a terrorist operation. Two prime candidates are (a) a Uighur organization which claimed responsibility or (b) an Iranian organization trying to spring terrorists incarcerated in Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok.
- If there was a plot to hijack the aircraft it failed because the bomb to gain access to the cockpit was too big.
- The Malaysian government may have been duped in a secret effort to get the passengers released.
*This article was originally published by Technology and Security as MH370 was a Terrorist Operation, New Evidence on December 9, 2015