A man claims to have sighted the infamous Boeing 777, carrying 239 individuals, on fire in the sky.
The decade-long mystery began on March 8, 2014, when Malaysia Airlines flight 370 vanished while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. It remains the most perplexing and unresolved aviation case in history. In 2014, a worker on an oil rig in New Zealand lost his job after reporting a sighting he believed to be MH370 engulfed in flames.
As per CNN reports, Mike McKay, 57, was on a break, smoking on the Songa Mercur oil rig off the coast of Vietnam that fateful evening when he claimed to have seen an aircraft on fire at a high altitude. He notified his superiors via email, describing how he observed the burning plane at a compass bearing between 265 and 275 degrees from their location.
In his message, McKay wrote: “Gentlemen. I believe I witnessed the Malaysian Airlines flight going down. The timing aligns. I attempted to reach out to Malaysian and Vietnamese authorities several days ago, but I am unsure if the message was received.”
He further stated: “During my observation, the aircraft seemed intact. The duration from when I first saw the burning plane until the flames extinguished at a high altitude was 10-15 seconds. There was no sideways movement, indicating it was either approaching our position, stationary (descending), or moving away from us. The general direction of the sighting was perpendicular/southwest of the usual flight path and at a lower altitude than regular flight paths.”
The leaked email disclosed the workplace’s name. McKay expressed, “I ended up appearing foolish, but that is inconsequential compared to the families who lost loved ones on the flight. I shared my observation in a confidential email in the hope of aiding in the search for the families’ missing relatives.”
“This information diverted the search away from the South China Sea. Why was there a delay of six days in releasing the primary radar data? What about the two sonar devices investigated in the Indian Ocean? Where are the metal stress reports for the part discovered on Reunion Island? These reports would reveal how the plane disintegrated. The pilot likely attempted to circle away from other air routes until daylight. The plane’s disappearance (if the data is accurate) along the seventh arc could place the breakup in the South China Sea or immediately south of Sumatra, not off the western coast of Australia.”
Following McKay’s alert, Vietnamese authorities dispatched aircraft to search for the plane, as reported by NZer. Recent search efforts by the marine robotics company Ocean Infinity abruptly ceased in April, with Malaysia’s Transport Minister Anthony Loke telling AFP: “Currently, it’s not the appropriate season.”
The search is currently on hold, with Loke stating: “They have paused the operation temporarily; they will resume the search by the year’s end.” Meanwhile, Ismail Hammad, Chief Engineer at Egyptair, believes he has solved the mystery that could save time and resources by pinpointing the exact location of the missing aircraft MH370. Ismail questioned the authenticity of photographs showing debris of the aircraft emerging from the sea, arguing that “the condition of the aircraft’s paint does not match what would be expected if it had been submerged in saltwater for the duration it has.”
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