MH370 was shot down, author of book about missing Malaysian plane believes

© Photo: "Vesti.Ru"

The first book about the missing Malaysian airliner, "Flight MH370 - the Mystery" will go on sale on Monday, 71 days after the passenger plane dissapeared on March, 8. 

After studying various theories about what might have happened, the author came to the conclusion that the plane had been shot down.

Flight MH370 - the Mystery, by Anglo-American author, Nigel Cawthorne, cites anonymous sources to suggest that misinformation was released to direct the search to concentrate on the wrong locations, The Sun-Herald newspaper reported.

The author of more than 150 books, Cawthorne provides no answers but instead presents "theories" as to what might have had happened to flight MH370 on March 8.

Read also: A guide to MH370 conspiracy theories: 10 most curious versions

Published by NewSouth Books in Sydney, the book cites a claim by New Zealander Mike McKay that he saw a burning plane from the oil rig he was working on in the Gulf of Thailand on March 8, the day the plane went missing. This, said the SMH in its online edition, led the author to believe that the aircraft may have been shot down accidentally during a joint Thai-American military exercise in the South China Sea, adding that rescuers were then, "possibly led in the wrong direction to cover up the mistake".

Cawthorne claims that the countries involved may have then sent searchers in the wrong direction to cover their tracks.

"After all, no wreckage has been found in the South Indian Ocean, which, in itself, is suspicious."

He said with the amount of disinformation regarding MH370, it is best to be skeptical, reports the Daily Mail.

The Malaysian Insider quotes Cawthorne, "The drill was to involve mock warfare on land, in water and in the air, and would include live-fire exercises". 

"Say a participant accidentally shot down flight MH370. Such things do happen. No one wants another Lockerbie (the downing of Pan Am flight 103 by terrorists in 1988), so those involved would have every reason to keep quiet about it."

He even suggests that if the plane's "black box" flight recorder is ever found it could be a fake planted by those involved in the coverup. But, he added, "I'm not saying that's what happened".

Read also:

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