Is there a new Bermuda Triangle in Asia?

The dramatic crash of Taiwan’s TransAsia plane in Taipei on 4 February, 2015 has again raised speculations about a conspiracy theory that started last year: that the Bermuda triangle has shifted eastwards to Asia! The Bermuda Triangle is a mysterious patch of water in the North Atlantic Ocean into which ships and planes have allegedly vanished without any trace.These rumours started in 2014, when the Malaysia Airlines plane MH370, travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, disappeared over the South China Sea. The flight was carrying around 239 passengers. Despite multiple international search missions being on the job, no evidence of any flight debris has been found till date, giving rise to several speculations behind its disappearance.

Soon after MH370’s disappearance, a Malaysian politician alleged that the Bermuda triangle had been found in the Vietnam waters with mapping instruments being ineffective in the region. There even a series of hoax viral posts on the internet claiming that the missing MH370 flight had landed safely near the Bermuda Triangle. Subsequent air mishaps in the region have only added fuel to the fire. In December 2014, the Singapore-bound AirAsia QZ8501, with 162 people on board, crashed into the Java Sea, soon after its take-off from the Indonesian city of Surbhaya. The latest TransAsia crash in Taipei also caused suspicions about the region being another Bermuda Triangle yet again.


The original Bermuda Triangle refers to an area in the western part of the North Atlantic Ocean, located between Bermuda, Florida and Puerto Rico. It is believed to be responsible for the disappearance of over 20 airplanes and 50 ships in the last century. There are countless bizarre explanations behind these disappearances: from magnetic field disturbances to extraterrestrial abductions and time warps. The most popular theory is that the mythical city of Atlantis lies under the Bermuda Triangle, with its technology causing disturbances to passing vehicles and leading them to sink.


However, critics have pointed out that these disappearances can be explained by the area’s tendency to have hurricanes and tropical storms, with swift changes in weather caused by the Gulf Stream. The swift stream can also quickly remove any traces of a diaster. Scientists argue that the Bermuda Triangle doesn’t even officially exist, so its geographical boundaries are vague and vary in different accounts. Finally, region includes some of the deepest marine trenches on earth, making navigation difficult.


Statistically too, the Bermuda Triangle has not seen a substantially higher number of disappearances as compared to other regions. After the MH370 vanished, it was suggested that the plane disappeared over a patch that was on the exact opposite part of the globe from the Bermuda Triangle. However, closer investigation revealed that the search area was in fact on the opposite part of the globe from the Caribbean Sea. Interestingly, another area in the Pacific Ocean called the Devil’s Sea or the Dragon’s Triangle has been described as the Pacific Bermuda Triangle. Located Japan’s east coast, it is considered to be a ‘danger zone’ in the country. Another ‘Bermuda Triangle of Asia’ is rumoured to be situated near the Penghu Islands in Taiwan.

So is there really a Bermuda Triangle in south-east Asia? The mystery remains.