The pale sun rose steadily into the sky as the plane tipped its wings and made a second sweep over the snow covered peaks below. On board, fifty seven year old Chen Yun brought the camera up to her eye and clicked, pulling it away again. She looked down at the striking image on the LCD and then out the window toward the mountain known as Chioma, Lungma, Sagamata, and
Mount Everest, among other names. Chen Yun smiled proudly as she showed the image to her friends Ding Ying and Yang chao Ming, and declared it the best she had ever taken. With one day left before heading home to Beijing, the three women who were taking part in a group tour of Nepal had decided to join others from the group on an early morning fly by of the world's
tallest mountain. Had enjoyed themselves immensely, and for the fifty nine year old Yang chau Ming at least, it had completely renewed her taste for adventure, telling the others how she was already making plans to visit the United Kingdom, Ireland and perhaps Iceland. Two Later that afternoon of March seventh, twenty fourteen, the women arrived at Kuala Lumpur Airport for the final leg of their journey back to Beijing, their footsteps echoing across the granite floor as they made their
way into the cavernus atrium of the airport's departure lounge. Nearby, Vini Cinthia Teo and Sugianto Low from Dan in Indonesia, sat waiting for their flight to be called, anxiously checking their phones for any word from their son, Antonio. The couple had wanted to take a vacation for years, but with three children approaching college age, they adopted to save what money they could Instead. When a friend gifted them
a holiday to China, they jumped at the chance. But it's been a long time since they'd been separated from their children, and as they sat waiting to board their flight, it was hard not to worry, especially since Antonio, their eldest, had yet to come home and it was already dark. After finally getting hold of him, relieved to hear he was home, safe and well, they made sure to lovingly remind him that it was his responsibility to set a
good example to his younger brother and sister. In their absence. The couple said goodbye to their son, just as a loud and cheerful group shuffled into the lounge, twenty three artists from China, part of a delegation who'd come to Kuala Lumpur for a three day painting and calligraphy exhibition. One of the loudest was distinguished artist and calligrapher Leo Rusheng, who at seventy six, was also the oldest of the group.
On the bus to the airport, he'd been in high spirits, encouraging the rest of the group to clap along as he regaled them with a selection of his favorite songs. But now he was perturbed as he reproached his wife, Bao You and Hua for failing to pack his paintings properly.
The argument would soon blow over, however, With boarding announced, the couple, along with Chen Yon Ding Ying Yang Chou Ming Vini, Cinthia Teo, Sugianto Low, and two hundred and twenty two fellow passengers headed in the same direction, made their way to gate. See one You're listening to Unexplained and I'm Richard McClean smith. Thirty nine year old Paul Weeks just arrived from a connecting flight in Perth found himself a seat in the corridor just outside the gate.
A former soldier from New Zealand, Paul, who lived in Perth with his wife Danika and their two young boys, was heading to Mongolia to begin a twenty eight day mining job as a mechanical engineer. As he scrolled through messages on his phone, he couldn't help looking at the ring finger on his left hand. How naked it looked without his wedding ring on it. Earlier that day at home in Perth, Paul had been gripped by a sudden urge. He turned to his wife Dannika, and pulled off his ring.
Should anything happen to me, he said, I want the ring to go to the first son that's married. Then he took off his watch, and this you can give to the second. A little stunned and confused, Dannika brushed them away. Don't be stupid, she said, just come back and give it to them yourself, but Paul insisted. Just then, Paul heard Australian accents and looked up to see two couples making their way toward the gate. Paul pulled his
luggage in closer to give them room to pass. Kathy and Bob Lawton and Mary and Rodney Burrows had arrived in Malaysia from Brisbane to begin a five week trip together. Beijing was to be the next leg before making their way to hon and then on to a cruise down the coast of Vietnam. Kathy's eyesight had been failing for some time, and Bob had wanted to take her on the trip before it disappeared completely. The pair, who were both fifty seven and shared the same birthday, were also
planning to celebrate their next while they were away. As the couples took a seat, Kathy thumbed at a small worried doll. Having long been a nervous flyer, something of this trip in particular had left a feeling especially anxious. In the months prior, after suffering a series of terrible nightmares, a family friend had given her a set of worried
dolls to take her mind off it. With the plane a little late arriving, it had just gone midnight when the call came over the tannoy system for all passengers of Malaysia Airways Flight MH three seventy to prepare for boarding. Then one by one the two hundred and twenty seven passengers began filing steadily onto the plane. Is there something interfering with your happiness or preventing you from achieving your goals? Better help will assess your needs and match you with
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Forward slash Unexplained, that's better h elp dot com. Forward slash Unexplained joined the over one million people taking charge of their mental health with the help of an experienced professional. Better help wants you to start living a happier life today. At twelve thirty eight am on what was now March eighth, Captain of MH three seventy Zahari Akhmed Shah, was given the green light from Kawala Lumpa Air Traffic Control to
line up the plane and prepare for takeoff. Zahari duly eased the plane into place at the base of the runway, and then, after a flurry of communications, at twelve forty received the routine instruction cleared for takeoff. Inside the cockpit, Sahari pushed the four thrust levers forward and the plane began to inch slowly ahead, its speed steadily increasing until moments later it was shooting down the runway at one
hundred and eighty miles per hour. At twelve forty two, as the wheels drew away from the tarmac, Sahari radioed back to Kuala Lumpur Departure Malaysian three seven zero as the bowing Triple seven, complete with its two hundred and twenty seven passengers and twelve crew, climbed steadily into the night sky within minutes as the plain one of hundreds at the time is monitored by Malaysia Air Traffic Management.
Responsibility for tracking the plane has passed from Lumpur Tower to the Lumpur Approach team and finally to Lumpur radar. As the controllers at Lumpur radar tracked the numerous blips on their monitors, the yellow one labeled m H three seventy moved steadily up to thirty thousand feet and continued on its way across the screen. With the plane heading northwards over the South China Sea toward Vietnam. At O
one nineteenth. As it approached the border of Malaysian Vietnamese air space, Lumpur radar signal the captain again Malaysian seven zero contact ho Chi MINH one twenty decimal nine good night. Moments later, Captain Shah radioed back good night Malaysian three seven zero, and with that, Lumpa Radar watched as the small colored blip continued on toward the top of their radar display until eventually it reached the edge and disappeared
from view. It was thirty nine, twenty minutes after they'd last heard from the plane, when Malaysia Air Traffic Management was contacted by Vietnam's ho Chi Minh City Air Traffic Control, who had an alarming question for them. Why they asked, had H three seventy not yet crossed into their air space.
For the next twenty minutes, Malaysia Airlines operations Kuala Lumpur and ho Chi min Air Traffic Control scrambled to pinpoint the plane, struggling to communicate to each other in broken English, but no trace of the plane could be found, and as the night wore on, it became increasingly obvious that the plane had completely disappeared. But Beijing Capital International Airport, those waiting for friends and family to arrive on flight MH three seventy are told only that the flight has
been delayed. The plane had been due to land at six thirty a m. Then, at just before seven thirty a m. Came the horrific news laid out an a pressed statement from Malaysia Airlines that flight MH three seventy had been lost. A search and rescue operation was launched immediately, focusing on the plane's last known position between the Gulf
of Thailand and the South China Sea. Teams from as many as six countries dispatch planes, boats, and helicopters to aid the search, and even a United States Navy destroyer is diverted from international waters and sent to the southern coast of Vietnam to assist. Initial efforts are centered on two oil slicks nine and six miles long that are spotted just off the coast of Vietnam, but nothing of
significance is found. As the news began to spread around the world, soon many would be gripped by the extraordinary story of how a plane in this modern era of aviation had completely vanished with no clue as to what had happened to it or where it had gone, And soon relatives and friends of those on board would hear about it too. Fifty five year old farmer Lee Ereau was out working the fields in Handan in the northern
province of Hubai when he received the news. His thirty year old son, Lee yan Lin was a passenger on board. He'd been flying home from a holiday in Malaysia. Lee yan Lynn had been the first person in their village to go abroad by plane. At home in Perth, Australia, Danica weeks here's the news too. When she tried to explain to her three year old son Lincoln, that his father had gone missing. She struggled to contain herself. It's okay, mummy,
he said, I will find him. In the evening of Saturday, March eighth, in Carmel, California, fifty six year old Blaine Gibson was at his late parents home, immersed in memories as he sifted through the remnants of their life together. Being an only child, the house had been left to him after the recent death of his mother, and having put it off for months, he was finally getting round to sorting through everything in preparation to sell it off.
Though a lawyer by trade, Blaine had spent the last few years homing in on a long held ambition to visit every country in the world, having already visited one hundred and seventy six to date. His hope was to get enough money from the sale of his parents house to continue his itinerant lifestyle indefinitely. But what Blaine craved
more than anything else was adventure. When Blaine was only twenty three, he'd been inspired by the release of Indiana Jones in nineteen eighty one and its depiction of the grizzled eponymous hero jetting round the world in search of the Ark of the Covenant. Soon after, he set out alone on his own quest, traveling to Ethiopia in search
of the real Ark of the Covenant. Over the years, Blaine's thirst for adventure had led him to eastern Siberia to investigate the famed Tunguska meteor event, as well as into the jungles of Central America on the trail of the Lost Mayan civilization. He'd also adopted the look of his hero, complete with khrkey tones and a fedora hat, and had even taken to carrying business cards with the
words Adventurer, Explorer, truth seeker printed on them. And so it was when on that Saturday night, a news report flashed up on CNN that a plane had gone missing over the South China Sea. Blaine's attention was caught immediately, and though he was too preoccupied to think much more of it at the time, over the coming months the story would not let him go. Dealing with stress is a daily struggle. I've tried to host a strategies to help manage my daily stress, like trying to maintain a
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of newcarm and their money back guarantee. That's unexplained nucalm dot com. Unexplained newcarm dot com. With the initial search and Vietnam waters proving unsuccessful, it soon became clear that without understanding what had caused the plane's disappearance in the first place, there was no way of knowing where exactly
they should be looking for it. The fact that the flight appeared to disappear so suddenly from air traffic control systems after the final recorded message from the pilot, with no distress call being sent out, suggested that either by catastrophic mechanical failure or deliberate action, the plane had exploded in mid air. At one thirty am, ten minutes after the final communication, an unusual low frequency sound was picked up by two underwater microphones close to the Perth coast
of Australia, monitored by Curtain University in Perth. It sounded a lot like a large object crashing into the sea, but then an unsettling discovery forced to rethink. After analyzing radar data on the morning after the plane's disappearance, the Royal Malaysian Air Force made the incredible discovery that the plane had in fact still been flying at least an hour after its final transmission was sent. Even more strangely, it had flown in completely the opposite direction to where
it had been heading. The Air Force concluded that by two twenty two am, flight MH three seventy wasn't over the South China Sea at all, but somewhere to the north of Indonesia, over the Andaman Sea, roughly eight hundred kilometers due west of where it was last thought to have been and where the current air and rescue search
was being focused. With the plane still flying long after the pilot's last transmission, the most likely explanation for the plane's disappearance from ATC radar was that its transponder, the device that allows it to be tracked on radar, was manually switched off. Looking closer at the data, it was determined that shortly after it disappeared from ATC radar, the plain, which had been traveling north, made a steep turn to the southwest, a maneuver that would have required a significant
amount of skill to avoid entering a spiral dive. It then proceeded back toward Malaysia, moving between thirty one to thirty three thousand feet toward Penang Island on the west coast of Malaysia, where it then turned again to head out northwest over the Andaman Sea. It was just approaching the Nicobar Islands, two hundred kilometers north of Banda Atcha Province at the top of Indonesia when at two twenty two a m it left the range at the Malaysian
Air Force radar. The following day, the multinational search teams, now involving forty aircraft and twenty four sea vessels, were directed to focus their attention on the Andaman Sea for the family and friends of those on board. Since the plane, or what might be left of it, had yet to be located, the agonizingly slim hope remained that it and their loved ones might still be found in one piece.
As for those investigating the plane's disappearance, they were faced with the very thorny issue that someone had most likely deliberately or under duress, flown it off course. This posed
a number of possible scenarios. One was that some kind of mechanical failure had led the pilot to take drastic action, perhaps trying to exhaust the fuel supply before doing so, or perhaps in having made an unsuccessful effort to attempt an emergency landing, the pilot had then taken it on himself to try and steer the plane away from populated areas before bringing it down. And yet there remained the
mystery over the plane's disappearance from ATC radar. It's not impossible that the transponder might cease working of its own accord and if whatever had occurred had also somehow tripped the communication system, that would explain why if an emergency landing was attempted that no may day or distress signal was sent by the pilot. Such an event was highly unlikely, and since it was considered equally unlikely that the pilot or co pilot would deliberately and secretly take the plane
off course, there remained only one possibility. In March twenty o eight, a nineteen year old woman attempted to bring down a China Southern Airline's flight bound for Beijing by setting it on fire while she was on board. Then, in June twenty twelve, six men attempted to hijack at Tianjin Airline's flight bound for the Chinese city of Urumqi
in the far Northwest Autonomous Region of Chinjiang. After dismantling a metal crutch to create small batons, the men succeeded in storming the cockpit before they were eventually subdued by
other passengers. All attackers identified as Weiga Muslims and had perpetrated their attacks as part of an ongoing ethnic conflict in Chinjiang between the Chinese government and those who identify as weigas a Turkic minority group, many of whom are Muslim and see themselves more culturally and ethnically aligned to
Central Asian nations than the Chinese state. With many in the Weiger population convinced their culture and ethnicity as under threat from the Chinese government, and the government in turn threatened by the possibility of a Weiger separatist movement, the two opposing forces have been locked in a steadily escalating
series of conflicts since the nineteen thirties. A growing alignment of some Weiger Muslims with wider jihadist movements had resulted in a number of increasingly violent acts of terror or resistance and retaliation, depending on your point of view. Only a week before mh through seventy disappeared, a group of knife wielding attackers had burst into Kunming trained state in the southwest of China and killed twenty nine people, wounding another one hundred and thirty. The attack was blamed on
Weiger separatists. The Chinese government's response to these attacks in recent years has included the forced sterilization of Weiger women and the placing of up to an estimated one and a half million Weiger individuals in interment camps. With one hundred and fifty three Chinese nationals on board MH three seventy and Malaysia well known as a popular holiday destination for Chinese tourists, there was sufficient reason to suspect the
plane might have been targeted for attack. That the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultive Conference was taking place in Beijing at the same time only served to strengthen the theory. This year, I'm refocusing on what it means to take care of myself, and it couldn't be easier than with Daily Harvest. Daily Harvest delivers delicious food or built on organic fruits and vegetables right to
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you can too. Get started today. Go to Daily Harvest dot com and enter promo code unexplained to get twenty five dollars off your first box. That's promo code unexplained for twenty five dollars off your first box at daily Harvest dot com. That's Daily Harvest dot com. As Malaysian police carried out background checks on all the passengers, there was one in particular that stood out, thirty four year old Mama Tijiang Aboula from Kashi in the ching xiang
Weiga Autonomous Region. However, despite reports in the Malaysian press that he was an employee at a Swedish flight simulation facility. The man was found to be a talented and renowned oil painter who'd been traveling with the group of artists returning from the Kuala Lumpur Calligraphy exhibition, but then something else. The night after the plane disappeared, Malaysia Airlines publicly released
the full list of passengers and crew on board. The list included Luigi Moraldi from Italy and Christian Kozal from Austria. Only neither Maraldi or Kosal had been anywhere near the flight, both being alive and well at their respective homes when the plane disappeared. After consulting with Interpol, it was discovered that both men had their passports stolen in the last
two years while holidaying in Thailand. Unfortunately, Malaysian immigration had failed to check the passports against the Interpol database before allowing whoever was using them to board the flight. The database had been created in the wake of the September eleventh hijackings precisely to try and prevent such an event from ever happening again, As one police official would later reveal, only recently an attempt had been made by two other passengers to fly out of Kuala Lumpur on fake passports
armed with explosives. Soon after, a small travel agency in Thailand revealed that they'd booked the tickets for the passengers via an intermediary known as mister Ali, who was based in Iran. After CCTV images was circulated of the un known passengers, they were eventually identified as eighteen year old Poori Neur Mohammed meer Dad and twenty nine year old
Devavar Said Mohammed Madressa, both from Iran. Despite some alarm in the media at the Iranian connection, both men, as it turned out, had merely been trying to get to Frankfurt in Germany in an effort to escape their birth country and claim asylum. Not terrorists at all, but two young men hoping for a better future that was lost
with all the others and flight MG three seventy. Though terrorism remained a possibility to some, with the lack of any obvious suspect on board and no organization coming forward to claim responsibility, many began to suspect the theory was a dead end, and then something else unexpected came to light. On the morning of the plain's disappearance, an unusual series of signals were picked up by a satellite located roughly thirty five thousand, eight hundred kilometers above the Indian Ocean.
It belonged to the British Satellite Company Inmarsat. The signals were comprised of eight distinct pings recorded at eleven minutes past the hour up until eight to eleven am Malaysian time, that appeared to show something moving across the Earth. Working from the m Marsat Data Control Room based out of Old Street in London, England, employees analyzed the signals over the course of a few days before coming to a
stunning conclusion. The pings had been coming from Malaysian Airways flight MH three seventy, with the last pin received almost six hours after the last known location of the plane was established, suggesting that not only had it not crashed or gone down in the Andaman Sea, but it had continued to fly for a further six hours beyond this point.
To make things more complicated, however, with the ping only providing a single point of data where the plane was on a line of latitude, the location of the aircraft could only be guessed at roughly It also wasn't clear if the pings represented latitude or north or south, which
presented two possibilities for the plane's last known whereabouts. Either it had ended up right in the middle of the Indian Ocean, or it had flown right across the autonomous region of Chinjiang and ended up somewhere in the middle of Kazakhstan. You've been listening to Unexplained Season five, Episode eleven, Destination Unknown, Part one of two. Part two will be released next Friday, February twenty fourth. If you enjoy Unexplained and would like to help support us, you can now
do so via Patreon. To receive access to add three episodes, just go to pat dot com, forward Slash Unexplained Pod to sign up, or if you'd like to make a one time donation, you can go to Unexplained podcast dot com forward Slash Support. All donations, no matter how large or small, are greatly appreciated. Unexplained The book and audiobook, featuring ten stories that have never before been covered on
the show, is now available to buy worldwide. You can purchase through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Waterstones, among other bookstores. All elements of Unexplained, including the show's music are produced by me Richard McClain Smith. Please subscribe and rate the show wherever you listen to podcasts, and feel free to get in touch with any thoughts or ideas regarding the stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps you have an
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