Paperback: In a world where we can be tracked by our mobile phones, CCTV and spy satellites, things do not just disappear, especially not a big thing like a jumbo jet, but Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 did.
A wide-bodied Boeing 777 is so large that you could barely park it on a football field. But soon after a routine takeoff from Kuala Lumpur International Airport on the night of 7 March 2014, Flight MH370 disappeared from the radar with 227 passengers and 12 crew on board. No one could even be sure where it was last seen. A pilot from another plane who flew through the area at the time said it was "a beautiful clear northeast monsoon night".
Debris was spotted hundreds, then thousands of miles apart, only to be discounted.
For weeks, this real-life version of the hit TV show Lost gripped the world. Even Russia's invasion of the Crimea couldn't keep it off the front pages. Were those on board to be found alive on a mysterious tropical island? Had they crashed into the sea? Had the plane been hijacked or brought down by a terrorist bomb?
As the story unfolded, more mysteries came to light.
Who had turned off the plane's tracking system? And why? Why had there been no 'Mayday' call? And which way was it headed?
Why were governments and institutions that had information about Flight MH370 so reluctant to share it? And why did the mobile phones of those on board continue to ring out? Wild theories abounded. Had Flight MH370 been abducted by aliens? Or shot down by the North Koreans?
Its route took it nowhere near the Devil's Sea - the Pacific's answer to the Bermuda Triangle. But somehow, in the world of the web, where every email was intercepted, the disappearance of MH370 began to rival the legend of the Marie Celeste, a ship found under full sail in the mid-Atlantic in 1872 with no one on board. None of those who had been on board were ever seen or heard of again. Numerous theories sprang up around this ghost ship.
Some time has passed since Flight MH370 vanished and the mystery continues.
In Flight MH370 The Mystery (2014), prolific author Nigel Cawthorne sifts the evidence, weighs the theories and unravels the mystery of Flight MH370.
About the author: Nigel Cawthorne is an Anglo-American writer of fiction and non-fiction, and an editor. He has written more than 150 books on a wide range of subjects and has contributed to The Guardian, the Daily Mirror, the Daily Mail and the New-York Tribune. He has appeared on television and BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
Many of Nigel Cawthorne's books are compilations of popular history, without footnotes, references or bibliographies. His own website refers to a description of his home as a "book-writing factory" and says, "More than half my books were commissioned by publishers and packagers for a flat fee or for a reduced royalty".
One of his most notable works was Taking Back My Name, an autobiography of Ike Turner, with whom he spent a number of weeks working with him on, taking up residence in Turner's house. The book caused much controversy, resulting in court cases for three years following its release. On his website, Cawthorne claims to be Britain's most published living author and the only person to have stood in the dock of the Old Bailey and testified to the US Senate. Cawthorne currently lives in Bloomsbury, London with his girlfriend and son. (Wikipedia)
No comments:
Post a Comment