MH370 passengers alive and being held captive?

Is it possible... really... that the conspiracy theories surrounding the fate of missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 are right? Could it be... really... that the plane was hijacked and landed in a remote location, to be "repurposed", and that the passengers are alive and being held captive?

That theory sounds a bit far-fetched to me, but it's what some of the families of the missing pax (like those shown here, demonstrating in Beijing some months ago) believe.

In a statement released earlier this week, the families said they offered their forgiveness to whoever is holding the passengers, adding "We believe our loved ones may still be alive and are being held at an undisclosed location for unknown reasons. In the absence of proof to the contrary, we believe it is possible the missing may still be alive. If this is so, we would willingly grant to the perpetrators amnesty in return for the release of the missing."

The "official" story, according to Malaysian, Australian and French "authorities", is that the B-777 flew southwest from its last confirmed position for hours, until it (perhaps) ran out of fuel or (perhaps) was flown very gently and skilfully into the south Indian Ocean by its suicidal pilot(s). French officials claim that a flaperon which washed up on the shores of Réunion -- on the other side of said ocean, some 3000 miles of the area now being searched -- was from the missing aircraft.

In this week's statement, the families of the missing said they don't trust the official account of the incident. "We do not believe any of the series of official statements starting from March 24, 2014, up to and including that of September 3, 2015," they said. "There is no real proof justifying any of these statements." They urged that an investigation into exactly what happened be broadened and extended beyond June, which is when the official search for the missing plane is scheduled to end.

The problem with their request, as I see it, is that no investigation will uncover anything unless and until the relevant governments fess up. Who do I mean? Weellll... perhaps the Chinese, perhaps the Indians, or... more likely... the Americans who operate the gigantic military base on Diego Garcia. If the missing plane in fact landed somewhere on terra firma, I'll bet a dollar to your donut that's where it is.

The more likely explanation is that the Americans shot MH370 out of the sky, perhaps accidentally... perhaps not. See "Current thinking on MH370", WWW 31/7/15. (And please pardon the pun in the headline.)