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The Arena Hildegarde
MOST of us love thrillers — be they in book and/or audio-visual format. Thrillers have a sense of keeping you on edge and also offer indirect interactive elements where your mind is allowed to wander and come up with absurd and in some cases understandable conspiracy theories.The case of the missing Malaysian Airways flight MH730 is a “thriller” that is in a class of its own.

A huge plane, Boeing 777-200, cannot just vanish into thin air and in the process allow aviation specialists, governments, the media and anyone for that matter to spin a web of truths, half-truths and untruths.

On Sunday, March 9 when all TV networks had a “breaking news” alert about the missing flight MH370, which was flying from the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur to the Chinese capital, Beijing, natural instinct was that even if the worst might have happened, the expertise and gizmos around would locate the plane or its wreckage in real time.

Instinct also told me that the advances in technology of which the Boeing 777 family was a part of would quickly detect whether the plane had been hijacked, its location and what the hijackers’ demands were, if there had been any hijacking at all.

No one anticipated what has now turned out to be a nightmare, a long wait and the ensuing confusion. Nobody was prepared for what may yet become one of the most controversial chapters of the 21st century.

Why has science and technology failed the people, and why has it been so incompetent if it does not have the capacity to solve such problems timeously?

Why are big nations spending trillions of dollars in research and development if R&D cannot factor challenges like the fate of flight MH370?
One would think that the overdrive that some nation states went into after the September 11, 2001 terrorist bombing of the World Trade Centre, all options would be on the table regarding security issues, and that nothing should be taken for granted.

In an interconnected world where data mining and snooping has become the norm, it beats me that none of these precision gadgets can point to where the plane is — whether intact or otherwise — when GPS activation in Zimbabwe can tell me where I am!

When one goes through the yarns of narrative told since March 8 the question is, what has become of technological advancements if they cannot solve major problems like the disappearance of flight MH370.

“All right, good night” are alleged to be the last words from the co-pilot before the plane vanished, but sadly, nothing has been all right since March 8, and most people have not enjoyed a good night’s sleep since flight MH370 disappeared.

Instead, people are bombarded with conflicting information and weird conspiracies from armchair theorists, which do not answer the one and only question: where is flight MH370 or what happened to it and the people on board?

As I have followed the story with keen interest, I realised that it is not one of those international tragedies that people think only happen in certain parts of the world for the disappearance of flight MH370 can be replicated anywhere.

The twists and turns in this bizarre tale are something every government should pay particular attention to.
When you consider how the claims and counter claims change every now and again it becomes even more compelling to follow the grotesque saga until final conclusion.

Social media all over the world are feasting on the ordeal, but within the wry sense of humour, you realise that people are following developments and are waiting for positive news.
Zimbabwe’s WhatsApp users have not been left out.

On March 18 a reconstructed picture of “members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police” are seen beating up people and asking them: “Ndege iripi? (“Where is the missing plane?”)

At the time of writing two more pictures were doing the rounds. The first one was of the supposed missing plane on a haulage truck along Masvingo-Harare Road.

It was followed by a “breaking news” announcement that the missing plane had been found in Chegutu.
In between the jokes is a sense of worry with some simply saying that since the plane and/or wreckage cannot be located, then UFOs or an equivalent of the Bermuda Triangle, must have captured it.

Who can blame these social media commentators for using satirical ways to address issues of global magnitude?
And, who can also blame anyone for coming up with any theory when theories presented by experts and governments in the past 12 days have failed to tell the world where the missing plane is and/or what happened to it?

The pundits can continue to spin their yarns, but if they cannot lead us to the location of such a huge plane, it’s nothing but chasing after the wind while all options remain on the table.

Families of the 239 passengers and crew want answers, and not the rolls of technical jargon only understood by aviation experts.
Watching the numerous interviews some of them have had with the media, some of the relatives have openly said that they are being lied to.
With some of them considering taking legal action and/or going on hunger strike, it is time that all concerned parties realise that the meticulous verification of all data at their disposal should produce meaningful answers.

In an increasingly turbulent geo-political sphere we cannot afford to have an unsolved mystery of such a nature.
It is not only the family members of the people on the plane and/or their governments who are demanding truthful answers, but all of us.
What has happened to the plane, its passengers and crew?

Why should each passing day produce new evidence of the plane’s flying path, instead of simply telling the world where the plane is?
With 26 countries now involved in searching for the plane in an area the size of Australia, this also raises eyebrows.

Hearing the type of aircraft, ships and gadgetry being used, most of which are of a military nature, you start wondering why this part of Asia is actually being militarised.

Aggressive pursuit is meant to get answers, but why does it look like this is  an  opportunity  for  some  nations to  show  off  their  military  might     in the name of looking for flight MH370?

What value addition do we get from the crowding of the region with military aircraft, ships and “experts”, if flight MH370 remains missing?