Bolstering a theory that is widely circulating in the social media that there could be an ongoing secret negotiation with possible hijackers of the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, it has now been revealed that the airplane continued to fly for four additional hours from the time of what was initially announced as the last point of contact.
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The information, revealed by US investigators, now raises the possibility that the plane could have flown on for hundreds, possibly thousands, of additional miles. The latest development only raises more questions.
The Wall Street Journal reported, citing aviation investigators and national security officials, that the plane flew for a total of five hours. The puzzling information is said to have been automatically downloaded and sent to the ground from the Boeing 777's engine as part of a routine maintenance and monitoring program.
While the mystery surrounding the missing plane has only continued to raise confusion and frustration, the latest revelation raises a spate of new questions and possibilities on a story that has continued to make major international headlines for six days after the plane's disappearance under mysterious circumstances.
The wide-body jet, carrying 239 people onboard, was reported to have vanished from the civilian air-traffic control radar in the wee hours of Saturday, only about an hour into its journey from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
While the inability to solve the puzzle surrounding the bizarre disappearance of the plane has become a breeding ground for uncanny theories and explanations doing their rounds on the internet, the event has prompted a massive international air and water search, which so far has not produced any tangible results.
As the investigation continues, US counterterrorism officials are pursuing the possibility, as speculated by the family members of the passengers, that a pilot or someone else onboard could have deliberately turned off the jetliner's transponders to avoid radar detection and diverted the plane to an undisclosed or undetectable location.
The evidence, indicating possible terrorism or sabotage, tends to make more sense in a theoretical point of view at a time when there is nothing more scientific and plausible one could think about.
Also interesting is the way a Malaysian official seemed to digress from a question asked by a family member in Beijing on Wednesday on whether military-grade radar had picked up the plane. The official who had visited China to meet the family members reportedly gave reasons to speculate the possibility of an ongoing official secret negotiations with hijackers when he said: "Now is not the time to reveal it."
Adding to the mystery is the curious case of phones of some of the passengers still ringing. No one has been so far able to give an official response to the fact that the family members could still hear the passengers' phone ringing, even days after the disappearance of the plane.
