It turns out there are a lot of airfields in the region on which the plane could land, and even take off again. Most are controlled by governments or the military of those governments. Which raises questions about which military or civil authorities, acting with or without the official sanction of their governments might be involved, should the aircraft have been successfully diverted?
Police investigating Uighur Muslim with flight training who was on board missing Malaysian airliner
Yes, but the Cocos airport jives with the theory that the aircraft took a right turn after crossing the Malacca, which would put it dead on course for the runway.
These are Mayanmar waters, as well, and they haven’t been cooperative with the investigations.
....”Which raises questions about which military or civil authorities, acting with or without the official sanction of their governments might be involved, should the aircraft have been successfully diverted?”......
Which, (though I haven’t followed this closely), would definitely be my thoughts if indeed it has landed somewhere....and what country would gain by holding 239 people hostage the most...and where would they put them if it landed? Assuming it did land...and not crashed somehwere.