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Getty A Malaysian Airlines plane at Kuala Lumpur International Airport

Mystery has surrounded the fate of the jet, and the 239 passengers and crew on board, since it disappeared in March 2014 while flying from Malaysia to China. A major international search to find the plane has failed to find the main wreckage. And last year Malaysian investigators insisted that there was nothing untoward in the backgrounds of the pilots and crew on MH370. But Larry Vance, former investigator-in-charge for the Canadian Aviation Safety Board who led the investigation into the downing of Swissair Flight 111 in 1998, says he believes the crash was no accident.

This was a human engineered event, there’s no other explanation Larry Vance, former investigator-in-charge for the Canadian Aviation Safety Board

Mr Vance, making the claims during an Australian television interview, said: “Somebody was flying the airplane at the end of its flight. There is no other theory that fits." He explained that erosion on the edges of recovered wing parts indicated the plane was under control when it crashed. The wear and tear was caused by a part of the plane's wing – called a flaperon – being exposed to the elements when it was extended. But he said the flaperon can only be extended by a pilot in full control of his plane. Mr Vance added: “This was a human engineered event, there’s no other explanation.”

CNN Larry Vance, former investigator-in-charge, Canadian Aviation Safety Board

YouTube The flaperon - the raised section - of the wing of a Boeing 777

Reuters French officials examine plane debris washed up on Saint-Andre de la Reunion, Indian Ocean

EPA A flaperon from MH370, found last year

Flight MH370 remembered Wed, March 22, 2017 Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 Remembered. Flight MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2014 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. After one year and an exhaustive search, investigators still have no clue as to the whereabouts of the missing airline Play slideshow AFP/Getty Images 1 of 19 A family member of a passenger missing on Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 cries during a protest near the Malaysian embassy in Beijing on March 8, 2015

Getty Grieving relative of one of those who were on board MH370

Investigators claim that there is mounting evidence suggesting a “rogue pilot" scenario in which Captain Zaharie Shah deliberately flew the plane off-radar before crashing it into the ocean. This has been strongly denied by Captain Shah's sister, who says there is no evidence he was suicidal.

Facebook Captain Zaharie Shah, pilot of flight MH370