In the consensus of scholarly opinion, the death of Subhas Chandra Bose occurred from third-degree burns on 18 August 1945 after his overloaded Japanese plane crashed in Japanese-occupied Taiwan (then called "Formosa"). However, many among his supporters, especially in Bengal, refused then, and have refused since, to believe either the fact or the circumstances of his death. Conspiracy theories appeared within hours of his death and have had a long shelf life, keeping alive various martial myths about Bose.