Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Spotted Near The Maldives

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Spotted Near The Maldives

Reports that the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was spotted in the Maldives resulted to a search along the southern part of the Indian Ocean. Residents of the island nation reportedly saw a low-flying jet on the same day the jet dropped out of civilian radar coverage and contact from ground controllers.

The jet, which had similar markings as the fleet of Malaysia Airlines, flew over the island of Kuda Huvadhoo on March 8 at around 6:15 AM.

A witness indicated that the jet flew low over their island. The witness indicated that the doors of the plane could be clearly seen. The same thing was also seen by other residents as they went outside of their houses to check the source of the loud noise.

Kuda Huvadhoo councilor Mohamed Zaheem indicated that other residents also talked about the incident. The plane was seen flying in the direction of the Addu Atoll in the southern part of the Maldives.

The sighting of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was consistent with the theory of Chris Goodfellow. The experience pilot indicated that the pilot of the plane may have flown in the direction of Langkawi following a possible fire that knocked out the transponders. The pilots may have wanted to land but were overwhelmed by smoke as the jet continued to fly on autopilot.

Goodfellow also said the sighting of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in the Maldives is consistent with the timeline. No statements were released by investigators on the reported sighting of the plane in the Maldives.

A search led by Australia is focusing on an area to the west of Perth. A P-3 Orion was led the search on Tuesday. Other countries like New Zealand and the US are expected to help in the search while China revealed it is interested in providing assistance.

The search area covers over 600,000 square kilometers and is expected to take weeks to be completed. John Young of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority rescue coordination center indicated that the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 will be a major challenge due to the size of the area to be searched.

Posted by James Fried on Friday March 21 2014, 4:27 AM EST. Ref: SMH. Link. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, World. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0