Loke dodges press waiting to quiz him on damning MH370 claims

Transport Minister Anthony Loke (above) gave media personnel the slip after attending his ministry's monthly meeting in Putrajaya this afternoon.

Among others, reporters wanted to quiz him on notable American aviation writer William Langewiesche's unsubstantiated allegations with regard to the probe into the 2014 disappearance of flight MH370.

One reporter had asked Loke to step outside so that the media could pose questions and the minister nodded.

However, Loke later left through one of the side doors at the event hall.

When the reporters realised he was exiting through a side door, they attempted to chase after him but the minister kept walking briskly without taking questions.

Yesterday, it was reported that Langewiesche accused Malaysian police of withholding information pertaining to MH370's disappearance, specifically details surrounding its pilot captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah (below).

The writer also resurfaced the theory that Zaharie murdered all 238 passengers and crew before intentionally crashing the plane into the ocean in his report published online in the July issue of American magazine The Atlantic.

He also accused Malaysian authorities under the then BN-led government of concealing pertinent information to mask their ineptitude and inefficiency during the early days of the incident.

Langewiesche described Loke as being “miserable to the point of being angry” at an event with Grace Nathan, a family member of a passenger on MH370, along with American wreck-hunter Blaine Gibson, where the minister formally accepted five new pieces of debris.

“The Malaysians just wish the whole subject would go away,” he claimed.

Meanwhile, former defence minister Hishammuddin Hussein dismissed Langewiesche's (below) allegations, claiming they could be easily disproved.

“Old news by someone who wants to capitalise on it. We should not give mileage to him.

“Not sure what his motives are, but the authorities can easily prove him wrong. You should contact them,” he said.

Hishammuddin was the government spokesperson for the MH370 investigation at the time.

Meanwhile, another American aviation writer, Clive Irving, rebutted most of Langewiesche’s claims in an article on The Daily Beast, calling it a “discredited conspiracy theory”.

He said Langewiesche’s information about Zaharie was anecdotal without multiple sourcing and that there was an “unfortunate tone of condescension” in Langewiesche’s musings of Zaharie’s state of mind and actions.

Quoting Langewiesche who claimed the “airplane disintegrated into confetti when it hit the water”, Irving said the heaviest parts of the jet would have shattered on impact but they would never have shredded like confetti.

“Confetti better describes Langewiesche’s detective work,” he said. - Mkini