Liow: No truth to report on MH370 pilot in Taiwan

KUALA LUMPUR: A report claiming that the captain of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has reappeared in a Taiwan hospital is not true.

"I would like to tell you that it is false news," Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai (pic) told reporters at Menara Shell on Friday afternoon.

"We have not received any confirmation from Taiwan, and our consulate in Taiwan informed us there is no such report," he added.

A World News Daily Report (WNDR) article claimed that Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah had "mysteriously reappeared" in a Taiwanese hospital on Monday.

MH370 departed the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 8 for Beijing. It turned back towards the Indian Ocean, and vanished with 239 people on board.

The report also quoted a doctor saying that the pilot was suffering from amnesia.

WNDR has a disclaimer on its website which states that "all characters appearing in the articles in this website – even those based on real people – are entirely fictional and any resemblance between them and any persons, living, dead, or undead is purely a miracle".

This has not stopped people from sharing the story on social media, which according to the article's Facebook counter, has reached nearly 5,000 shares.

To this, Liow said: "I hope we don't speculate on this news. There are people circulating it and making it viral on the Net."

He added that people should be "sensible" and be mindful of the families of the MH370 victims.