Malaysian Airlines' MH370 'could have been shot down by missile', claims new book

The Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 might have been shot down from the sky, claims a new book about the doomed airlines. The plane was a scheduled international passenger flight that disappeared from the radar on March 8, 2014, before making a turn It was flying from Kuala Lumpur International Airport to its planned destination, Beijing Capital International Airport.

In the latest development in the mystery around the incident that took place before the Malasia Airlines plane vanished and crashed into the sea with at least 239 people, the author Florence de Changy claims that it did not make a u-turn. De Changy is an investigative journalist. She further added that Boeing-777 could have been shot down by a “fighter jet, missile or a new laser-guided weapon system being tested in the region at the time”.

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At least two major underwater searches have shed some light on the unknown circumstances of the plane while one of the leading theories was of a mass murder-suicide by the pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah. Several other accounts had predicted that the plane had made a u-urn less than an hour into its planned route before sinking into the ocean. The debris of the aircraft has been reportedly discovered on the French island of Reunion, on the coasts of Tanzania and  Mozambique as well as on the shores of Madagascar. 

Following a lengthy investigation, Florence de Changy claims that the plane had stayed on course for another 80 minutes only until 2:40 AM before plummeting into the Gulf of Thailand, near Vietnam. In her book, ‘The Disappearing Act: The Impossible Case Of MH370’, she has also reportedly stated that the plane carried illicit cargo. She also said that the crew made contact with Vietnamese air traffic control before the crash took place.  

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‘Laser weapons system was being tested’

While talking to The Sun, she explained that a “new laser weapons system was being tested at the time”. According to her, shooting the plane down could have either been a “blunder” or a “last resort” in order to stop the plane’s special cargo “falling into the wrong hands”. De Changy’s theory indicates that the disaster took place around 2:45 AM in north Vietnam. As per the report, intelligence sources have told her two US radar planes contacted the MH370 between 1:21 AM and 2:25 AM. Further, another third aircraft made contact at 1:30 AM before the Malaysia Airline crew spoke to the air traffic control  Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam at 2.37 AM for landing announcement. 

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(Image credits: The Associated Press)