WEBVTT - S05 Episode 11: Destination Unknown (Pt.1 of 2) 0:00:10.600 --> 0:00:13.440 The pale sun rose steadily into the sky as the 0:00:13.480 --> 0:00:16.439 plane tipped its wings and made a second sweep over 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:20.480 the snow covered peaks below. On board, fifty seven year 0:00:20.480 --> 0:00:23.160 old Chen Yun brought the camera up to her eye 0:00:23.320 --> 0:00:26.920 and clicked, pulling it away again. She looked down at 0:00:26.920 --> 0:00:29.680 the striking image on the LCD and then out the 0:00:29.680 --> 0:00:34.400 window toward the mountain known as Chioma, Lungma, Sagamata, and 0:00:34.560 --> 0:00:39.040 Mount Everest, among other names. Chen Yun smiled proudly as 0:00:39.080 --> 0:00:41.960 she showed the image to her friends Ding Ying and 0:00:42.120 --> 0:00:45.199 Yang chao Ming, and declared it the best she had 0:00:45.200 --> 0:00:49.440 ever taken. With one day left before heading home to Beijing, 0:00:49.720 --> 0:00:52.160 the three women who were taking part in a group 0:00:52.240 --> 0:00:55.120 tour of Nepal had decided to join others from the 0:00:55.160 --> 0:00:57.840 group on an early morning fly by of the world's 0:00:57.840 --> 0:01:02.840 tallest mountain. Had enjoyed themselves immensely, and for the fifty 0:01:02.880 --> 0:01:05.480 nine year old Yang chau Ming at least, it had 0:01:05.520 --> 0:01:09.240 completely renewed her taste for adventure, telling the others how 0:01:09.240 --> 0:01:12.720 she was already making plans to visit the United Kingdom, 0:01:12.760 --> 0:01:18.240 Ireland and perhaps Iceland. Two Later that afternoon of March seventh, 0:01:18.440 --> 0:01:22.240 twenty fourteen, the women arrived at Kuala Lumpur Airport for 0:01:22.319 --> 0:01:25.240 the final leg of their journey back to Beijing, their 0:01:25.240 --> 0:01:28.560 footsteps echoing across the granite floor as they made their 0:01:28.600 --> 0:01:33.640 way into the cavernus atrium of the airport's departure lounge. Nearby, 0:01:34.040 --> 0:01:38.560 Vini Cinthia Teo and Sugianto Low from Dan in Indonesia, 0:01:38.760 --> 0:01:42.240 sat waiting for their flight to be called, anxiously checking 0:01:42.240 --> 0:01:46.120 their phones for any word from their son, Antonio. The 0:01:46.200 --> 0:01:49.000 couple had wanted to take a vacation for years, but 0:01:49.120 --> 0:01:52.320 with three children approaching college age, they adopted to save 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:56.040 what money they could Instead. When a friend gifted them 0:01:56.040 --> 0:01:59.640 a holiday to China, they jumped at the chance. But 0:01:59.800 --> 0:02:02.360 it's been a long time since they'd been separated from 0:02:02.400 --> 0:02:05.760 their children, and as they sat waiting to board their flight, 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:10.440 it was hard not to worry, especially since Antonio, their eldest, 0:02:10.639 --> 0:02:13.360 had yet to come home and it was already dark. 0:02:14.080 --> 0:02:17.120 After finally getting hold of him, relieved to hear he 0:02:17.200 --> 0:02:20.480 was home, safe and well, they made sure to lovingly 0:02:20.560 --> 0:02:23.480 remind him that it was his responsibility to set a 0:02:23.480 --> 0:02:26.920 good example to his younger brother and sister. In their absence. 0:02:27.840 --> 0:02:30.640 The couple said goodbye to their son, just as a 0:02:30.680 --> 0:02:34.680 loud and cheerful group shuffled into the lounge, twenty three 0:02:34.800 --> 0:02:38.200 artists from China, part of a delegation who'd come to 0:02:38.280 --> 0:02:41.520 Kuala Lumpur for a three day painting and calligraphy exhibition. 0:02:42.240 --> 0:02:46.440 One of the loudest was distinguished artist and calligrapher Leo Rusheng, 0:02:46.960 --> 0:02:50.160 who at seventy six, was also the oldest of the group. 0:02:50.960 --> 0:02:53.799 On the bus to the airport, he'd been in high spirits, 0:02:54.080 --> 0:02:56.639 encouraging the rest of the group to clap along as 0:02:56.639 --> 0:02:59.240 he regaled them with a selection of his favorite songs. 0:02:59.560 --> 0:03:02.440 But now he was perturbed as he reproached his wife, 0:03:02.800 --> 0:03:06.400 Bao You and Hua for failing to pack his paintings properly. 0:03:06.840 --> 0:03:11.360 The argument would soon blow over, however, With boarding announced, 0:03:11.639 --> 0:03:15.400 the couple, along with Chen Yon Ding Ying Yang Chou 0:03:15.480 --> 0:03:19.920 Ming Vini, Cinthia Teo, Sugianto Low, and two hundred and 0:03:19.919 --> 0:03:23.639 twenty two fellow passengers headed in the same direction, made 0:03:23.680 --> 0:03:28.040 their way to gate. See one You're listening to Unexplained 0:03:28.400 --> 0:03:39.160 and I'm Richard McClean smith. Thirty nine year old Paul 0:03:39.240 --> 0:03:42.560 Weeks just arrived from a connecting flight in Perth found 0:03:42.640 --> 0:03:45.400 himself a seat in the corridor just outside the gate. 0:03:46.280 --> 0:03:49.280 A former soldier from New Zealand, Paul, who lived in 0:03:49.360 --> 0:03:52.080 Perth with his wife Danika and their two young boys, 0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:54.920 was heading to Mongolia to begin a twenty eight day 0:03:54.960 --> 0:03:58.480 mining job as a mechanical engineer. As he scrolled through 0:03:58.480 --> 0:04:00.920 messages on his phone, he couldn't help looking at the 0:04:01.000 --> 0:04:04.280 ring finger on his left hand. How naked it looked 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:08.280 without his wedding ring on it. Earlier that day at 0:04:08.320 --> 0:04:11.520 home in Perth, Paul had been gripped by a sudden urge. 0:04:12.120 --> 0:04:15.040 He turned to his wife Dannika, and pulled off his ring. 0:04:15.760 --> 0:04:18.320 Should anything happen to me, he said, I want the 0:04:18.400 --> 0:04:21.279 ring to go to the first son that's married. Then 0:04:21.279 --> 0:04:24.520 he took off his watch, and this you can give 0:04:24.600 --> 0:04:29.560 to the second. A little stunned and confused, Dannika brushed 0:04:29.560 --> 0:04:33.039 them away. Don't be stupid, she said, just come back 0:04:33.080 --> 0:04:38.279 and give it to them yourself, but Paul insisted. Just then, 0:04:38.480 --> 0:04:41.560 Paul heard Australian accents and looked up to see two 0:04:41.600 --> 0:04:45.479 couples making their way toward the gate. Paul pulled his 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:49.520 luggage in closer to give them room to pass. Kathy 0:04:49.600 --> 0:04:53.040 and Bob Lawton and Mary and Rodney Burrows had arrived 0:04:53.040 --> 0:04:56.080 in Malaysia from Brisbane to begin a five week trip together. 0:04:56.720 --> 0:04:59.280 Beijing was to be the next leg before making their 0:04:59.320 --> 0:05:02.080 way to hon and then on to a cruise down 0:05:02.080 --> 0:05:06.080 the coast of Vietnam. Kathy's eyesight had been failing for 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:08.479 some time, and Bob had wanted to take her on 0:05:08.520 --> 0:05:12.200 the trip before it disappeared completely. The pair, who were 0:05:12.240 --> 0:05:15.679 both fifty seven and shared the same birthday, were also 0:05:15.720 --> 0:05:19.719 planning to celebrate their next while they were away. As 0:05:19.720 --> 0:05:22.520 the couples took a seat, Kathy thumbed at a small 0:05:22.600 --> 0:05:26.520 worried doll. Having long been a nervous flyer, something of 0:05:26.560 --> 0:05:30.000 this trip in particular had left a feeling especially anxious. 0:05:30.680 --> 0:05:34.479 In the months prior, after suffering a series of terrible nightmares, 0:05:34.720 --> 0:05:37.080 a family friend had given her a set of worried 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:41.200 dolls to take her mind off it. With the plane 0:05:41.240 --> 0:05:44.320 a little late arriving, it had just gone midnight when 0:05:44.320 --> 0:05:47.520 the call came over the tannoy system for all passengers 0:05:47.680 --> 0:05:52.599 of Malaysia Airways Flight MH three seventy to prepare for boarding. 0:05:53.440 --> 0:05:56.359 Then one by one the two hundred and twenty seven 0:05:56.400 --> 0:06:05.719 passengers began filing steadily onto the plane. Is there something 0:06:05.760 --> 0:06:09.279 interfering with your happiness or preventing you from achieving your goals? 0:06:09.640 --> 0:06:12.039 Better help will assess your needs and match you with 0:06:12.080 --> 0:06:15.560 your own licensed professional therapist. Sign up today and start 0:06:15.560 --> 0:06:19.080 communicating in less than forty eight hours. You'll get timely 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:22.160 and thoughtful responses. Plus, you can schedule weekly video or 0:06:22.200 --> 0:06:24.479 phone sessions so you won't ever have to sit in 0:06:24.480 --> 0:06:27.320 an uncomfortable waiting room. You can also log into your 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:30.240 account any time to send a message to your counselor. 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:33.799 Better Help is not a crisis line nor self help. 0:06:34.000 --> 0:06:37.680 It is professional counseling done securely online, with a broad 0:06:37.800 --> 0:06:41.279 range of expertise available, and with better helps commitment to 0:06:41.320 --> 0:06:45.240 facilitating great therapeutic matches, they make it especially easy and 0:06:45.400 --> 0:06:48.440 free to change counselors to help you find the right fit. 0:06:48.960 --> 0:06:52.400 This podcast is sponsored by better Help and Unexplained. Listeners 0:06:52.400 --> 0:06:55.760 get ten percent off their first month at betterhelp dot com. 0:06:55.880 --> 0:07:00.880 Forward slash Unexplained, that's better h elp dot com. Forward 0:07:00.960 --> 0:07:04.679 slash Unexplained joined the over one million people taking charge 0:07:04.680 --> 0:07:07.800 of their mental health with the help of an experienced professional. 0:07:08.400 --> 0:07:11.720 Better help wants you to start living a happier life today. 0:07:17.280 --> 0:07:21.240 At twelve thirty eight am on what was now March eighth, 0:07:21.400 --> 0:07:25.559 Captain of MH three seventy Zahari Akhmed Shah, was given 0:07:25.560 --> 0:07:29.200 the green light from Kawala Lumpa Air Traffic Control to 0:07:29.280 --> 0:07:34.200 line up the plane and prepare for takeoff. Zahari duly 0:07:34.320 --> 0:07:37.040 eased the plane into place at the base of the runway, 0:07:37.320 --> 0:07:40.920 and then, after a flurry of communications, at twelve forty 0:07:41.280 --> 0:07:46.800 received the routine instruction cleared for takeoff. Inside the cockpit, 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:50.640 Sahari pushed the four thrust levers forward and the plane 0:07:50.680 --> 0:07:55.200 began to inch slowly ahead, its speed steadily increasing until 0:07:55.280 --> 0:07:58.280 moments later it was shooting down the runway at one 0:07:58.360 --> 0:08:02.240 hundred and eighty miles per hour. At twelve forty two, 0:08:02.600 --> 0:08:06.360 as the wheels drew away from the tarmac, Sahari radioed 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:10.720 back to Kuala Lumpur Departure Malaysian three seven zero as 0:08:10.760 --> 0:08:13.560 the bowing Triple seven, complete with its two hundred and 0:08:13.640 --> 0:08:17.640 twenty seven passengers and twelve crew, climbed steadily into the 0:08:17.800 --> 0:08:22.760 night sky within minutes as the plain one of hundreds 0:08:22.760 --> 0:08:26.360 at the time is monitored by Malaysia Air Traffic Management. 0:08:26.920 --> 0:08:30.760 Responsibility for tracking the plane has passed from Lumpur Tower 0:08:31.120 --> 0:08:34.760 to the Lumpur Approach team and finally to Lumpur radar. 0:08:35.679 --> 0:08:39.080 As the controllers at Lumpur radar tracked the numerous blips 0:08:39.120 --> 0:08:42.200 on their monitors, the yellow one labeled m H three 0:08:42.280 --> 0:08:45.920 seventy moved steadily up to thirty thousand feet and continued 0:08:45.960 --> 0:08:49.760 on its way across the screen. With the plane heading 0:08:49.800 --> 0:08:53.520 northwards over the South China Sea toward Vietnam. At O 0:08:53.679 --> 0:08:57.360 one nineteenth. As it approached the border of Malaysian Vietnamese 0:08:57.400 --> 0:09:02.840 air space, Lumpur radar signal the captain again Malaysian seven 0:09:02.960 --> 0:09:07.839 zero contact ho Chi MINH one twenty decimal nine good night. 0:09:09.360 --> 0:09:14.800 Moments later, Captain Shah radioed back good night Malaysian three 0:09:14.880 --> 0:09:19.840 seven zero, and with that, Lumpa Radar watched as the 0:09:19.920 --> 0:09:23.120 small colored blip continued on toward the top of their 0:09:23.240 --> 0:09:28.079 radar display until eventually it reached the edge and disappeared 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:38.440 from view. It was thirty nine, twenty minutes after they'd 0:09:38.520 --> 0:09:41.920 last heard from the plane, when Malaysia Air Traffic Management 0:09:42.200 --> 0:09:46.160 was contacted by Vietnam's ho Chi Minh City Air Traffic Control, 0:09:46.400 --> 0:09:50.280 who had an alarming question for them. Why they asked, 0:09:50.640 --> 0:09:54.080 had H three seventy not yet crossed into their air space. 0:09:55.440 --> 0:09:59.760 For the next twenty minutes, Malaysia Airlines operations Kuala Lumpur 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:03.600 and ho Chi min Air Traffic Control scrambled to pinpoint 0:10:03.640 --> 0:10:08.199 the plane, struggling to communicate to each other in broken English, 0:10:08.280 --> 0:10:12.160 but no trace of the plane could be found, and 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:15.840 as the night wore on, it became increasingly obvious that 0:10:15.960 --> 0:10:23.240 the plane had completely disappeared. But Beijing Capital International Airport, 0:10:23.559 --> 0:10:26.480 those waiting for friends and family to arrive on flight 0:10:26.640 --> 0:10:29.600 MH three seventy are told only that the flight has 0:10:29.640 --> 0:10:32.880 been delayed. The plane had been due to land at 0:10:32.920 --> 0:10:37.800 six thirty a m. Then, at just before seven thirty 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:40.959 a m. Came the horrific news laid out an a 0:10:41.040 --> 0:10:45.520 pressed statement from Malaysia Airlines that flight MH three seventy 0:10:45.960 --> 0:10:51.040 had been lost. A search and rescue operation was launched immediately, 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:54.679 focusing on the plane's last known position between the Gulf 0:10:54.720 --> 0:10:58.360 of Thailand and the South China Sea. Teams from as 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:02.680 many as six countries dispatch planes, boats, and helicopters to 0:11:02.760 --> 0:11:06.560 aid the search, and even a United States Navy destroyer 0:11:06.880 --> 0:11:10.120 is diverted from international waters and sent to the southern 0:11:10.120 --> 0:11:14.560 coast of Vietnam to assist. Initial efforts are centered on 0:11:14.600 --> 0:11:18.120 two oil slicks nine and six miles long that are 0:11:18.120 --> 0:11:21.559 spotted just off the coast of Vietnam, but nothing of 0:11:21.679 --> 0:11:26.080 significance is found. As the news began to spread around 0:11:26.080 --> 0:11:29.320 the world, soon many would be gripped by the extraordinary 0:11:29.400 --> 0:11:32.560 story of how a plane in this modern era of 0:11:32.640 --> 0:11:36.240 aviation had completely vanished with no clue as to what 0:11:36.360 --> 0:11:39.760 had happened to it or where it had gone, And 0:11:39.920 --> 0:11:43.360 soon relatives and friends of those on board would hear 0:11:43.400 --> 0:11:47.960 about it too. Fifty five year old farmer Lee Ereau 0:11:48.440 --> 0:11:51.160 was out working the fields in Handan in the northern 0:11:51.160 --> 0:11:55.240 province of Hubai when he received the news. His thirty 0:11:55.320 --> 0:11:58.800 year old son, Lee yan Lin was a passenger on board. 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:02.760 He'd been flying home from a holiday in Malaysia. Lee 0:12:02.840 --> 0:12:05.520 yan Lynn had been the first person in their village 0:12:05.720 --> 0:12:10.040 to go abroad by plane. At home in Perth, Australia, 0:12:10.240 --> 0:12:13.679 Danica weeks here's the news too. When she tried to 0:12:13.720 --> 0:12:16.320 explain to her three year old son Lincoln, that his 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:21.600 father had gone missing. She struggled to contain herself. It's okay, mummy, 0:12:21.720 --> 0:12:31.720 he said, I will find him. In the evening of Saturday, 0:12:31.760 --> 0:12:35.920 March eighth, in Carmel, California, fifty six year old Blaine 0:12:35.920 --> 0:12:39.480 Gibson was at his late parents home, immersed in memories 0:12:39.600 --> 0:12:42.040 as he sifted through the remnants of their life together. 0:12:43.080 --> 0:12:45.520 Being an only child, the house had been left to 0:12:45.600 --> 0:12:48.400 him after the recent death of his mother, and having 0:12:48.440 --> 0:12:51.120 put it off for months, he was finally getting round 0:12:51.120 --> 0:12:54.200 to sorting through everything in preparation to sell it off. 0:12:55.400 --> 0:12:58.160 Though a lawyer by trade, Blaine had spent the last 0:12:58.200 --> 0:13:01.040 few years homing in on a long held ambition to 0:13:01.160 --> 0:13:04.200 visit every country in the world, having already visited one 0:13:04.320 --> 0:13:07.360 hundred and seventy six to date. His hope was to 0:13:07.400 --> 0:13:09.800 get enough money from the sale of his parents house 0:13:09.960 --> 0:13:14.640 to continue his itinerant lifestyle indefinitely. But what Blaine craved 0:13:14.720 --> 0:13:19.319 more than anything else was adventure. When Blaine was only 0:13:19.320 --> 0:13:22.560 twenty three, he'd been inspired by the release of Indiana 0:13:22.640 --> 0:13:25.280 Jones in nineteen eighty one and its depiction of the 0:13:25.280 --> 0:13:28.960 grizzled eponymous hero jetting round the world in search of 0:13:29.040 --> 0:13:32.480 the Ark of the Covenant. Soon after, he set out 0:13:32.520 --> 0:13:36.200 alone on his own quest, traveling to Ethiopia in search 0:13:36.240 --> 0:13:40.000 of the real Ark of the Covenant. Over the years, 0:13:40.040 --> 0:13:43.480 Blaine's thirst for adventure had led him to eastern Siberia 0:13:43.720 --> 0:13:47.400 to investigate the famed Tunguska meteor event, as well as 0:13:47.440 --> 0:13:50.240 into the jungles of Central America on the trail of 0:13:50.280 --> 0:13:54.160 the Lost Mayan civilization. He'd also adopted the look of 0:13:54.200 --> 0:13:57.959 his hero, complete with khrkey tones and a fedora hat, 0:13:58.480 --> 0:14:01.000 and had even taken to carrying business cards with the 0:14:01.040 --> 0:14:06.319 words Adventurer, Explorer, truth seeker printed on them. And so 0:14:06.400 --> 0:14:09.560 it was when on that Saturday night, a news report 0:14:09.640 --> 0:14:12.680 flashed up on CNN that a plane had gone missing 0:14:12.720 --> 0:14:16.640 over the South China Sea. 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Unexplained newcarm dot com. With the initial search 0:15:45.200 --> 0:15:49.640 and Vietnam waters proving unsuccessful, it soon became clear that 0:15:49.680 --> 0:15:52.760 without understanding what had caused the plane's disappearance in the 0:15:52.800 --> 0:15:55.760 first place, there was no way of knowing where exactly 0:15:55.920 --> 0:15:58.440 they should be looking for it. The fact that the 0:15:58.480 --> 0:16:01.800 flight appeared to disappear so suddenly from air traffic control 0:16:01.880 --> 0:16:05.400 systems after the final recorded message from the pilot, with 0:16:05.480 --> 0:16:09.200 no distress call being sent out, suggested that either by 0:16:09.280 --> 0:16:14.160 catastrophic mechanical failure or deliberate action, the plane had exploded 0:16:14.240 --> 0:16:18.840 in mid air. At one thirty am, ten minutes after 0:16:18.880 --> 0:16:23.600 the final communication, an unusual low frequency sound was picked 0:16:23.680 --> 0:16:27.160 up by two underwater microphones close to the Perth coast 0:16:27.200 --> 0:16:39.320 of Australia, monitored by Curtain University in Perth. It sounded 0:16:39.360 --> 0:16:43.240 a lot like a large object crashing into the sea, 0:16:43.600 --> 0:16:49.920 but then an unsettling discovery forced to rethink. After analyzing 0:16:50.040 --> 0:16:53.560 radar data on the morning after the plane's disappearance, the 0:16:53.640 --> 0:16:57.360 Royal Malaysian Air Force made the incredible discovery that the 0:16:57.440 --> 0:17:00.640 plane had in fact still been flying at least an 0:17:00.640 --> 0:17:05.520 hour after its final transmission was sent. Even more strangely, 0:17:05.800 --> 0:17:09.040 it had flown in completely the opposite direction to where 0:17:09.040 --> 0:17:13.160 it had been heading. The Air Force concluded that by 0:17:13.200 --> 0:17:17.240 two twenty two am, flight MH three seventy wasn't over 0:17:17.280 --> 0:17:19.960 the South China Sea at all, but somewhere to the 0:17:20.000 --> 0:17:24.119 north of Indonesia, over the Andaman Sea, roughly eight hundred 0:17:24.160 --> 0:17:27.000 kilometers due west of where it was last thought to 0:17:27.040 --> 0:17:30.080 have been and where the current air and rescue search 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:34.040 was being focused. With the plane still flying long after 0:17:34.040 --> 0:17:37.679 the pilot's last transmission, the most likely explanation for the 0:17:37.680 --> 0:17:42.159 plane's disappearance from ATC radar was that its transponder, the 0:17:42.280 --> 0:17:45.240 device that allows it to be tracked on radar, was 0:17:45.320 --> 0:17:56.359 manually switched off. Looking closer at the data, it was 0:17:56.400 --> 0:18:00.520 determined that shortly after it disappeared from ATC radar, the plain, 0:18:00.840 --> 0:18:03.639 which had been traveling north, made a steep turn to 0:18:03.680 --> 0:18:07.399 the southwest, a maneuver that would have required a significant 0:18:07.440 --> 0:18:11.439 amount of skill to avoid entering a spiral dive. It 0:18:11.520 --> 0:18:15.439 then proceeded back toward Malaysia, moving between thirty one to 0:18:15.520 --> 0:18:19.359 thirty three thousand feet toward Penang Island on the west 0:18:19.400 --> 0:18:22.760 coast of Malaysia, where it then turned again to head 0:18:22.760 --> 0:18:27.080 out northwest over the Andaman Sea. It was just approaching 0:18:27.080 --> 0:18:31.119 the Nicobar Islands, two hundred kilometers north of Banda Atcha 0:18:31.200 --> 0:18:34.439 Province at the top of Indonesia when at two twenty 0:18:34.440 --> 0:18:36.840 two a m it left the range at the Malaysian 0:18:36.920 --> 0:18:41.920 Air Force radar. The following day, the multinational search teams, 0:18:42.000 --> 0:18:46.240 now involving forty aircraft and twenty four sea vessels, were 0:18:46.280 --> 0:18:50.439 directed to focus their attention on the Andaman Sea for 0:18:50.520 --> 0:18:53.520 the family and friends of those on board. Since the plane, 0:18:53.960 --> 0:18:56.080 or what might be left of it, had yet to 0:18:56.119 --> 0:19:00.439 be located, the agonizingly slim hope remained that it and 0:19:00.480 --> 0:19:03.399 their loved ones might still be found in one piece. 0:19:04.440 --> 0:19:07.959 As for those investigating the plane's disappearance, they were faced 0:19:07.960 --> 0:19:11.320 with the very thorny issue that someone had most likely 0:19:11.400 --> 0:19:16.679 deliberately or under duress, flown it off course. This posed 0:19:16.680 --> 0:19:20.480 a number of possible scenarios. One was that some kind 0:19:20.520 --> 0:19:23.800 of mechanical failure had led the pilot to take drastic action, 0:19:24.320 --> 0:19:27.280 perhaps trying to exhaust the fuel supply before doing so, 0:19:28.200 --> 0:19:31.600 or perhaps in having made an unsuccessful effort to attempt 0:19:31.600 --> 0:19:34.560 an emergency landing, the pilot had then taken it on 0:19:34.680 --> 0:19:37.760 himself to try and steer the plane away from populated 0:19:37.800 --> 0:19:42.520 areas before bringing it down. And yet there remained the 0:19:42.560 --> 0:19:47.399 mystery over the plane's disappearance from ATC radar. It's not 0:19:47.480 --> 0:19:50.720 impossible that the transponder might cease working of its own 0:19:50.760 --> 0:19:54.760 accord and if whatever had occurred had also somehow tripped 0:19:54.800 --> 0:19:58.840 the communication system, that would explain why if an emergency 0:19:58.920 --> 0:20:02.159 landing was attempted that no may day or distress signal 0:20:02.359 --> 0:20:06.560 was sent by the pilot. Such an event was highly unlikely, 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:10.000 and since it was considered equally unlikely that the pilot 0:20:10.119 --> 0:20:13.480 or co pilot would deliberately and secretly take the plane 0:20:13.520 --> 0:20:25.040 off course, there remained only one possibility. In March twenty 0:20:25.080 --> 0:20:28.200 o eight, a nineteen year old woman attempted to bring 0:20:28.240 --> 0:20:31.920 down a China Southern Airline's flight bound for Beijing by 0:20:31.960 --> 0:20:35.520 setting it on fire while she was on board. Then, 0:20:35.560 --> 0:20:39.159 in June twenty twelve, six men attempted to hijack at 0:20:39.240 --> 0:20:43.240 Tianjin Airline's flight bound for the Chinese city of Urumqi 0:20:43.720 --> 0:20:49.000 in the far Northwest Autonomous Region of Chinjiang. After dismantling 0:20:49.000 --> 0:20:52.919 a metal crutch to create small batons, the men succeeded 0:20:52.960 --> 0:20:56.239 in storming the cockpit before they were eventually subdued by 0:20:56.280 --> 0:21:01.800 other passengers. All attackers identified as Weiga Muslims and had 0:21:01.840 --> 0:21:05.600 perpetrated their attacks as part of an ongoing ethnic conflict 0:21:05.760 --> 0:21:09.840 in Chinjiang between the Chinese government and those who identify 0:21:09.920 --> 0:21:13.639 as weigas a Turkic minority group, many of whom are 0:21:13.720 --> 0:21:17.320 Muslim and see themselves more culturally and ethnically aligned to 0:21:17.440 --> 0:21:21.760 Central Asian nations than the Chinese state. With many in 0:21:21.760 --> 0:21:25.640 the Weiger population convinced their culture and ethnicity as under 0:21:25.680 --> 0:21:28.760 threat from the Chinese government, and the government in turn 0:21:29.160 --> 0:21:32.879 threatened by the possibility of a Weiger separatist movement, the 0:21:32.960 --> 0:21:36.359 two opposing forces have been locked in a steadily escalating 0:21:36.520 --> 0:21:41.200 series of conflicts since the nineteen thirties. A growing alignment 0:21:41.240 --> 0:21:45.400 of some Weiger Muslims with wider jihadist movements had resulted 0:21:45.440 --> 0:21:48.399 in a number of increasingly violent acts of terror or 0:21:48.480 --> 0:21:53.240 resistance and retaliation, depending on your point of view. Only 0:21:53.280 --> 0:21:56.679 a week before mh through seventy disappeared, a group of 0:21:56.760 --> 0:22:00.480 knife wielding attackers had burst into Kunming trained state in 0:22:00.520 --> 0:22:04.760 the southwest of China and killed twenty nine people, wounding 0:22:04.800 --> 0:22:08.240 another one hundred and thirty. The attack was blamed on 0:22:08.280 --> 0:22:12.760 Weiger separatists. The Chinese government's response to these attacks in 0:22:12.840 --> 0:22:16.760 recent years has included the forced sterilization of Weiger women 0:22:17.000 --> 0:22:19.399 and the placing of up to an estimated one and 0:22:19.480 --> 0:22:24.600 a half million Weiger individuals in interment camps. With one 0:22:24.640 --> 0:22:27.840 hundred and fifty three Chinese nationals on board MH three 0:22:27.920 --> 0:22:31.840 seventy and Malaysia well known as a popular holiday destination 0:22:32.040 --> 0:22:35.639 for Chinese tourists, there was sufficient reason to suspect the 0:22:35.640 --> 0:22:39.200 plane might have been targeted for attack. That the National 0:22:39.240 --> 0:22:43.600 People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultive Conference was 0:22:43.640 --> 0:22:46.760 taking place in Beijing at the same time only served 0:22:46.760 --> 0:22:54.800 to strengthen the theory. This year, I'm refocusing on what 0:22:54.840 --> 0:22:57.320 it means to take care of myself, and it couldn't 0:22:57.359 --> 0:23:00.960 be easier than with Daily Harvest. Daily Harvest delivers delicious 0:23:00.960 --> 0:23:03.919 food or built on organic fruits and vegetables right to 0:23:03.960 --> 0:23:06.560 your door. 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That's promo code unexplained 0:23:59.160 --> 0:24:02.000 for twenty five dollars off your first box at daily 0:24:02.000 --> 0:24:10.320 Harvest dot com. That's Daily Harvest dot com. As Malaysian 0:24:10.359 --> 0:24:13.560 police carried out background checks on all the passengers, there 0:24:13.640 --> 0:24:16.679 was one in particular that stood out, thirty four year 0:24:16.720 --> 0:24:20.800 old Mama Tijiang Aboula from Kashi in the ching xiang 0:24:20.920 --> 0:24:25.679 Weiga Autonomous Region. However, despite reports in the Malaysian press 0:24:25.920 --> 0:24:29.320 that he was an employee at a Swedish flight simulation facility. 0:24:29.640 --> 0:24:32.200 The man was found to be a talented and renowned 0:24:32.200 --> 0:24:35.240 oil painter who'd been traveling with the group of artists 0:24:35.400 --> 0:24:41.119 returning from the Kuala Lumpur Calligraphy exhibition, but then something else. 0:24:42.320 --> 0:24:46.880 The night after the plane disappeared, Malaysia Airlines publicly released 0:24:46.920 --> 0:24:49.960 the full list of passengers and crew on board. The 0:24:50.040 --> 0:24:55.480 list included Luigi Moraldi from Italy and Christian Kozal from Austria. 0:24:55.880 --> 0:24:59.880 Only neither Maraldi or Kosal had been anywhere near the flight, 0:25:00.359 --> 0:25:03.480 both being alive and well at their respective homes when 0:25:03.520 --> 0:25:08.159 the plane disappeared. After consulting with Interpol, it was discovered 0:25:08.200 --> 0:25:10.920 that both men had their passports stolen in the last 0:25:10.920 --> 0:25:16.960 two years while holidaying in Thailand. Unfortunately, Malaysian immigration had 0:25:16.960 --> 0:25:20.440 failed to check the passports against the Interpol database before 0:25:20.480 --> 0:25:24.399 allowing whoever was using them to board the flight. The 0:25:24.520 --> 0:25:27.320 database had been created in the wake of the September 0:25:27.359 --> 0:25:31.040 eleventh hijackings precisely to try and prevent such an event 0:25:31.160 --> 0:25:35.119 from ever happening again, As one police official would later reveal, 0:25:35.520 --> 0:25:38.359 only recently an attempt had been made by two other 0:25:38.359 --> 0:25:42.200 passengers to fly out of Kuala Lumpur on fake passports 0:25:42.320 --> 0:25:47.080 armed with explosives. Soon after, a small travel agency in 0:25:47.160 --> 0:25:50.440 Thailand revealed that they'd booked the tickets for the passengers 0:25:50.560 --> 0:25:54.320 via an intermediary known as mister Ali, who was based 0:25:54.480 --> 0:25:59.879 in Iran. After CCTV images was circulated of the un 0:26:00.080 --> 0:26:03.800 known passengers, they were eventually identified as eighteen year old 0:26:04.000 --> 0:26:07.480 Poori Neur Mohammed meer Dad and twenty nine year old 0:26:07.720 --> 0:26:13.600 Devavar Said Mohammed Madressa, both from Iran. Despite some alarm 0:26:13.640 --> 0:26:16.800 in the media at the Iranian connection, both men, as 0:26:16.800 --> 0:26:19.199 it turned out, had merely been trying to get to 0:26:19.280 --> 0:26:22.480