In what comes as a shocking revelation, an oil rig worker has reportedly claimed that he saw the missing Malaysian Airline passenger jet burst into flames on the same morning the plane went off radar.
New Zealander Mike McKay, who works on a rig operating in the Gulf of Thailand, emailed his employers, urging them to pass the information onto authorities about what he believed was certainly the ill-fated MH370.
According to news.com.au, he wrote in the letter that he tried to contact Malaysian and Vietnamese officials days ago, but he didn't know how his message was received.
McKay said that he observed burning at high altitude at a compass bearing of 265* to 275*
His observation from the said site would put the plane in the same general area where a Chinese satellite has spotted a suspected crash site, the report said.
McKay revealed in his letter that he first saw the burning, until the flames went out, still at high altitude, was 10-15 seconds. There was no lateral movement, suggesting either the object was coming to his location, was stationary or going away from the location.
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However, Vietnamese officials have reportedly since dismissed the account after not finding anything in the water.
Vietnamese naval officer Le Minh Thanh said that the officials sent a plane to the area to investigate McKay's claims, but the search was fruitless.
However, Strategic Aviation Solutions chairman Neil Hansford said superior Australian search aircraft should be sent to the area, because McKay's claims made sense as he was on an oil rig high up the surface of water and gave an exact position of the sight of the plane.