STATUS UPDATE

MH370 Crew Was Likely Unconscious

Investigators believe it was on autopilot.

While announcing a new deep-sea search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, Australian officials said they believe the plane was on autopilot until it ran out of fuel, and that the crew was likely unresponsive due to oxygen deprivation. The new search zone is based on the most likely scenario that the aircraft headed south across the Indian Ocean with the crew suffering from hypoxia. Hypoxia happens when a plane loses air pressure and human beings subsequently lack oxygen. This theory now supported by the Australians, was proposed back in March by Clive Irving, who wrote that "[MH370] flew until it ran out of gas" and that "we must assume that the crew and passengers were either unconscious or dead."