Wednesday, 12 March 2014

Missing MH370: Cops get reports on low-flying aircraft and loud noise

KOTA BARU: Four police reports about a low-flying aircraft, believed to be the missing flight MH370, have been lodged by eyewitnesses from here, Tumpat and Bachok.

Kelantan police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman said the eyewitnesses reported they saw the plane heading north towards the South China Sea.

He said according to the reports lodged on Sunday, the aircraft was sighted at Kuala Besar, Pantai Cahaya Bulan (both in Kota Baru), Geting (Tumpat) and Pantai Senok (Bachok).

“Based on the reports, the plane was sighted between 1.30am and 1.45am. A bus driver, who gave his voluntary statement on Sunday, said he saw a low-flying plane at Penarik, Setiu, Terengganu, at about 3.45am the same day flight MH370 went missing,” DCP Jalaluddin said.

“The driver was sure that he saw the aircraft’s blinking beacon lights,” he said.

He was speaking to reporters before handing over copies of the reports to Kelantan Department of Civil Aviation manager Suaidi Yusof at the police contingent headquarters here yesterday.

In Marang in Terengganu, eight villagers lodged reports claiming they had heard a loud noise on Saturday coming from the direction of Pulau Kapas.

The villagers from Kampung Pantai Seberang Marang made the reports at the Marang district police headquarters.

One of them, Alias Salleh, 36, said he and his fellow villagers were on a bench about 400m from the Marang beach at 1.20am when they heard the noise, which sounded like the fan of a jet engine.

“The loud and frightening noise came from the north-east of Pulau Kapas. We looked around the Rhu Muda beach but did not see anything unusual,” he said.

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