It has been 7 years since Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 vanished, the mystery of the strange disappearance remains unsolved. But with the world still not recovered, 4 months later, flight MH17 was shot down while flying over eastern Ukraine.
Yet, these are not the only incidents the Malaysian airline industry has encountered. 5 years after commencing its operations, the Malaysian Airline System (MAS), currently operating as Malaysian Airlines suffered its first disaster on the evening of 4th December 1977.
A Boeing 737-200 (Registration: 9M-MBD) airline was hijacked during a routinely scheduled flight from Penang International Airport, Malaysia, and was to arrive at the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport at 8:00 pm, formerly known as Subang International Airport.
MH653 was commanded by Captian GK Ganjoor and First Officer Kamarulzaman Jalil, both of them having a considerable amount of flying hours. Consisting of 93 passengers and 7 crew members, the majority of them being Malaysians perished upon impact at the Tanjung Kupang swamp, Johor. To this day we have no identification of hijackers or what necessarily went around inside the cockpit that led to the disaster.
After making the initial contact at 7:47 pm to the Subang Airport tower and during its descent, The hijackers barged into the cockpit, held up the pilots, and thereby on force radioed the ATC "Plane was heading towards Singapore and there has been an intrusion". After ascending, 20mins later, all radio communications were lost. It was no later than 8:40 pm that the authorities had received the devastating news of the crash.
Upon the recovery of the CVR recorders by the authorities, a discussion amongst the pilots and the hijackers were heard who later had implored about the insufficient fuel and pleaded for reconsideration to the Subang Airport for a refuel. Which upon this, 3 gunshots and the autopilot being disconnected/ switched were heard in the CVR recordings.
According to a police report, the plane was seen plummeting at a 90-degree angle towards the ground and exploding on impact. However, Several bystanders had also reported aircraft flames before the impact, but with no evidence, the report was later ruled out.
Several aviation experts assumed that the turbulence on the descent caused the bodies to shift into the yoke after being shot. Just like the Aeroflot 593 incident, where the captain's son moved the control column too far, thereby disengaging the autopilot and causing the stall/loss of control, resulting in 75 fatalities on impact. However, there is also a possibility of the Hijackers/unskilled passenger taking the control of the aircraft, thereby resulting in the loss of control.
With almost no sight of survival and wreckage disintegrated, buried deep under the swamp at Tanjung Kupang , the recovery was nearly impossible. Although the CVR recordings were recovered, the firearm used by the hijackers was never found neither the bullets.
On an impact of such a magnitude, it was solely improbable to identify the remains of the hijackers/unidentified passengers.
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| A mass grave funeral and burial were soon held in Kebun Teh after the incident. |
The Malaysian Civil Aviation Department report later concluded that the hijackers were armed and shot both the pilots, leaving the aircraft unmanned or in the hands of the hijackers.
However, like many incidents, there were several speculations as to who was responsible for the MH653 crash :
- Two years prior to this incident, the Japanese red army took 50 people as hostages from the AIA (American Insurance Associates) Building in Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which housed several diplomatic personnel, including United States Consul Robert C. Stebbins. Many individuals speculated that the MH653 disaster was caused by the Japanese red army.
- MH653 also had several high-profile people, like the Agriculture Minister Ali Haji Ahmad, the Cuban ambassador to Malaysia Mario Garcia, 2 American World Bank officers, and Public Works Department head Mahfuz Khalid. With such passengers, many have claimed it to be the sole reason why the hijacking happened.
- With several people blaming the Japanese red army for the crash and hijacking of MH653, although there were also claims that one of the VIPs' bodyguards had a firearm on board. The rumor, however, remains unproven due to a lack of evidence and no motive.
- Moreover, several reports have also stated that the hijacker killed himself after the pilots, indicated by the 3 gunshots heard during the CVR recordings. Though, there was a chance that the third gunfire missed and pierced the fuselage, causing quick decompression. The bullet hole was, however, too small to fracture, which would have resulted in explosive decomposition.
Having been 44 years since the MH653 disaster, the case however remains unsolved. The hijackers have never been identified neither their motives.
Various theories are floating around the internet, but they've all been dismissed owing to a lack of evidence. Until today, no one has been charged or held accountable.
Nonetheless, our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who have perished and hope for some closure in the future.
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