Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has claimed that high-level Malaysian government officials told him the disappearance of flight MH370 was a mass murder-suicide carried out by the pilot. Mr Abbott was prime minister when Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 vanished on March 8 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, with 239 people on board. Despite the largest search in aviation history - coordinated by Australian authorities - the plane was never found. The search examined 120,000 sq kilometres of the southern Indian Ocean. A later search by American company Ocean Infinity scoured more than 96,000 sq kilometres to no avail. In an interview in the yet to be aired Sky News documentary, Mr Abbott said it was his “very clear understanding” that the “very top levels” of the Malaysian government believed from “very early on” that pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah deliberately crashed the plane.... To continue reading, subscribe and try your first month for free. Already a subscriber? Log in Enjoy unlimited access to all articles Choose from all our exclusive newsletters Unlock money-saving offers and events Read the daily newspaper on your mobile devices via the Digital Edition app