Whilst the disappearance of
the Boeing 777 jet, carrying
239 passengers has left the
whole world in bewilderment,
several residents of Kuda
Huvadhoo told Haveeru on
Tuesday that they saw a "low
flying jumbo jet" at around
6:15am on March 8.
They said that it was a white
aircraft, with red stripes
across it which is what the
Malaysia Airlines flights
typically look like.
Eyewitnesses from the Kuda
Huvadhoo concurred that the
aeroplane was travelling
North to South-East, towards
the Southern tip of the
Maldives Addu. They also
noted the incredibly loud
noise that the flight made
when it flew over the island.
"I've never seen a jet flying so
low over our island before.
We've seen seaplanes, but I'm
sure that this was not one of
those. I could even make out
the doors on the plane
clearly," said an eyewitness.
"It's not just me either,
several other residents have
reported seeing the exact
same thing. Some people got
out of their houses to see
what was causing the
tremendous noise too."
Mohamed Zaheem, the Island
Councilor of Kuda Huvadhoo,
said that the residents of the
island had spoken about the
incident.
A local aviation expert told
Haveeru that it is "likely" for
MH370 to have flown over the
Maldives. The possibility of
any aircraft flying over the
island at the reported time is
extremely low, the expert
added.
The Malaysia airlines jet
disappeared on March 8 with
239 people on board after
taking off from Kuala Lumpur
bound for Beijing.
Investigators say it was
deliberately diverted off
course.
Twenty-six countries are now
helping to hunt for the plane
after satellite and military
radar data projected two huge
corridors through which it
might have flown.
Satellite data suggests that the
last "ping" was recieved from
the flight somwhere close to
the Maldives and the US naval
base on Diego Garcia.
But the Maldives is not
amongst the countries that
Malaysian authorities had
sought help from in its search
for the missing jet. Malaysia
has listed the countries that it
had appealed for assistance:
Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan,
Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan,
Pakistan, Bangladesh, India,
China, Myanmar, Laos,
Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia,
Australia and France.