Malaysia Airlines flight MH370: what do people think actually happened?

Malaysia Boeing 747-400 ((9M-MPN) landing at London
(Heathrow) Airport. Picture Adrian Pingstone

As the search for missing Malaysia Airline flight MH370 enters its fifth day, its sudden disappearance has generated a number of conspiracy theories.

From alien abduction, terrorist attack and a hidden weapon at work, to a military take out and pilot suicide, the theories are spreading like wildfire on the internet.

Flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing went missing on Saturday with 239 people having boarded the Boeing 777 jetliner.

Missing Malaysia Airlines flight: Eight CONSPIRACY theories on what's happened to the missing plane

Boeing, Malaysia Airlines, news reports. By Richard Johnson, Laris Karklis and Patterson Clark/The Washington Post.

The plane veered off over the South China Sea and headed west for the next hour and 10 minutes, travelling over Malaysia and Thailand.

Its last tracked position on radar recorded the flight about 200 miles off course over the Malacca Strait, near the island of Pulau Perak.

At least 10 countries, including Vietnam and China, are taking part in the search, which involves 40 ships and 34 aircraft.

BEIJING, CHINA - MARCH 08: A relative of a passenger onboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 (2nd Right) cries at Beijing International Airport March 8, 2014 in Beijing, China. Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing and carrying 239 onboard was reported missing after the crew failed to check in as scheduled while flying over the sea between Malaysia and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, according to published reports. (Photo by Feng Li/Getty Images)

But Vietnam reportedly scaled back the search on Wednesday.

The Daily Mail interview the Deputy Transport Minister Pham Quy Tieu, who heads the Vietnam search, said: "We still have plans to search with a few flights today, while other activities are suspended."

He added that searches by ships were being suspended. 

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