the Goodfellow theory here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3134508/posts
If this sighting is bona fide, it fits this theory. Pilots had a fire/smoke event, turned plane for the near Palau Langkawi runway, were overcome by smoke before they could land plane and plane kept going (passing over Maldives) until ran out of fuel and crashed in Indian Ocean.
That makes all the sense in the world. Good read.
but what about pinger being turned off? Why?