"We officially declare Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 an accident... and that all 239 of the passengers and crew onboard MH370 are presumed to have lost their lives." That's the party line, given out yesterday by Azharuddin Abdul Raham, Director-General of Malaysia's Department of Civil Aviation.
That clears the way for the airline to pay compensation to the next-of-kin of the 239 people who went down with the plane. Mr. Azharuddin said the airline would start the compensation process immediately. Whether the payoff money would come from the airline or its insurers would not made clear, raising the question (in Walt's mind) of whether the insurers accept the official explanation.
Meanwhile -- again according to Mr. Azharuddin -- the search for the plane goes on. You haven't heard much about that since the search, in the southeastern quadrant of the Indian Ocean, 1000s of miles off the airliner's scheduled route, has yet to turn up Clue One.
Why the Boeing 777 should have veered so far off course is also said to be the subject of an international investigation. And -- get this -- Mr. Azharuddin says that Malaysia is also conducting a criminal investigation!
A criminal investigation? Really? Into what, if the disappearance of MH370 was indeed an accident? Could we have some details please? Without any bodies or even a shred of the supposed MH370 wreckage, what clues have the Malaysian investigators uncovered? Who are they talking to? Have they asked the US military what they know? Have they visited the US military base at Diego Garcia?
Why do I ask those questions? Because I believe, as do many aviation experts, that MH370 was flying west-northwest, towards Diego Garcia, after it was last "seen" by radar, and either crashed or was shot down somewhere in the vicinity of the Maldives. See "MH370 - Just fancy that!", posted on WWW just before Christmas.
Until the Malaysian government (or anyone else) produces at least a scintilla of evidence that MH370 flew 1000s of miles in the opposite direction before plunging into the briny depths, I take Mr. Azharuddin's statement as one of policy -- "politics" is a better word -- not of fact.
As for the compensation to be paid to the victims' families, I call it hush money. Take the money and stop asking questions!
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