MH370, which had been travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, disappeared on March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board. The Boeing 777 aircraft last communicated with air traffic control at 1.19am when the plane was flying over the South China Sea, before vanishing from civilian radar screens. This week marks the fifth anniversary since the jet went missing and conspiracy theories are rife.

Some have outrageously claimed the US military base on Diego Garcia could be linked to the disappearance. The site – located in the middle of the Indian Ocean – was set up during the Cold War to counter Soviet influence in the region. It is still an active base and continues to be used as a flexible secret military hub. Conspiracy theorists have suggested that MH370 was either captured by the US and flown to Diego Garcia, or captain Zaharie Shah performed an emergency landing there.

The White House discussed the idea

Diego Garcia is in the Indian Ocean

Some news reports are saying the missing flight could have landed in the US military base of Diego Garcia Unnamed journalist

The latter theory somehow even made its way into the White House, when a reporter put forward the idea during a daily briefing on March 18, 2014. He said: “Some news reports are saying the missing flight could have landed in the US military base of Diego Garcia. “Do you rule that theory out?” Jay Carney, then President Barack Obama’s Press Secretary at the time quickly responded: “We’ll rule that one out."

A reporter put the theory to the White House

Jay Carney ruled the theory out

However, claims of a cover-up fail to die down. On August 24, 2017, Malaysian Consul in Madagascar Zahid Raza was “gunned down” in the country’s capital of Antananarivo. Many have pointed out the link between his death and his work to find missing parts of the doomed flight. Blaine Gibson, a US lawyer and amateur investigator of MH370, claimed his friend had been due to deliver new evidence to Malaysia before he was killed.

Some believe Zaharie Shah tried to land the plane

Malaysian Consul in Madagascar Zahid Raza was murdered

Mr Gibson wrote on his blog in August 2017: “For the protection of those involved, we decided not to make this report public until the debris was safely delivered to Malaysia. “However, tragic events have intervened. “Under the agreement between the two countries, debris is supposed to be collected by Zahid Raza, the Honorary Malaysian Consul in Madagascar, and delivered by private courier to Malaysia. “On August 24, the Hon. Zahid Raza was assassinated in Antananarivo.

Parts of MH370 debris have fuelled conspiracies