A new book contemplating the mystery of the disappearance of MH370 has been released, just 71 days after Malaysia Airlines Flight went missing with 239 people on board, Yahoo News reported.
Theorizing that the plane was accidentally shot down during a joint Thai-U.S. military training exercise, London-based author Nigel Cawthorne's book has managed to cause outrage among the victim families.
"Did they die painlessly, unaware of their fate?" Cawthorne writes in "Flight MH370: The Mystery," which was published Monday in Australia. "Or did they die in terror in a flaming wreck, crashing from the sky in the hands of a madman?"
The book's theory is based on an oil rig worker's claim of witnessing a burning plane crash down around the time the plane's transponder went off - and when the military exercise was reportedly in progress.
"The drill was to involve mock warfare on land, in water, and in the air, and would include live-fire exercises," Cawthorne writes.
Cawthorne, who says he's written more than 150 books, suggests the plane's disappearance is part of a massive international cover-up, Yahoo News reported.
"Say a participant accidentally shot down Flight MH370," Cawthorne writes. "Such things do happen. No one wants another Lockerbie, so those involved would have every reason to keep quiet about it."
Misinformation is being released by the officials in order to keep the plane from being found, the author claims.
"Now I'm not saying that's what happened," Cawthorne writes, "but if a black box is found, who is to say that it is from Flight MH370? Another black box could have been dropped in the sea 1,000 miles from Perth while the search was going on in the South China Sea. In these circumstances, with the amount of disinformation abroad, it is best to be skeptical."
Not surprisingly, news of Cawthorne's book has angered some of the victims' family members.
"Nobody knows what happened, so why would anyone want to put out a book at this stage?" Irene Burrows, the mother of one of the victims, told the Sydney Morning Herald. "There's absolutely no answers. It's devastating for the families."
