Saudia passenger ‘saw’ missing Malaysian jet

A passenger traveling on Saudi Airlines claimed to have seen remnants of Malaysian airliner MH370 floating in the Indian Ocean, on the day it disappeared with 239 people on board, Kuala Lumpur-based news site The Star Online reported on Friday.

Raja Latife, a 53-year-old Malaysian woman who was returning to her home country from Jeddah on March 8, saw “what looked like the tail and wing of an aircraft on the water,” while flying past the coastal Indian city of Chennai, she was quoted by the news site as saying.

After taking a second look, Latife told a cabin crew member about her sighting, who responded by closing her window and asking her to go to sleep, while other passengers laughed.

Not one to be disheartened, she then claimed to have filed a police report with her findings on the same day after landing.

A pilot, who wished to remain anonymous, questioned her claim saying that the plane’s altitude of 35,000 feet would have made spotting floating remnants of airliners impossible.

“This is roughly seven miles above sea level. How can anyone see anything like a boat or ship on the ground from so high up?” he was quoted by the Star as saying.

Latife said that she filed another police report on March 14 in the town of Sentul, in hopes that authorities will take her claims seriously.

It was only after landing in Kuala Lumpur and telling her children about her findings that Latife was informed about MH370 was missing, she said.

“Many of my friends on the flight doubted me at first but they are beginning to believe me now that we know the plane turned back and entered the Indian Ocean,” she said.