The case remains unsolved despite intensifying global search efforts. But we have learned several new details in the offshore driller narrative that warrant a mention.
Reports of McKay's email were initially met with skepticism, and some suspected a hoax. But multiple sources have now confirmed the authenticity of the rig hand's report. ABC news confirmed with the company operating the rig (Idemitsu) that the crew reported the sighting to Vietnamese authorities.
Additionally, the director of Vietnam's air traffic management, Doan Huu Gia, confirmed Vietnamese authorities had received the email account of the sighting from McKay on the rig.
Doan Huu Gia said, "He said he spotted a burning [object] at that location, some 300 km (200 miles) southeast of Vung Tau."
So the report appears authentic beyond reproach. Now, the million dollar question: did McKay really see the missing airliner in flames as he suspected? While still open to debate, there are a few new developments on that front too.
First, search crews were launched from Vietnam yesterday to vet McKay's claims. Specifically, aircraft deployed to the location of McKay's observation, which was in the general direction of where the plane was originally believed to have disappeared.
The Vietnamese search was unproductive and did not turn up any debris. But we would note that McKay originally reported the sighting several days ago, closer in time to the actual disappearance.
Because of the delay in the investigation of his claims and the fact that he saw the object burning in the air, any physical evidence associated with his sighting could be well beyond this search's radius by now.
The second big development since we first wrote about McKay's sighting came when Chinese satellite images emerged yesterday afternoon. The satellite images, recorded on Sunday, appeared to show debris floating in the South China Sea. Once again, the search efforts to vet these images failed to turn up any physical debris sightings (and the source is now being investigated).
As we follow the McKay narrative, this development is worth a mention because the location of the Chinese images is in the ballpark of McKay's sighting. In the map below, we've swapped McKay's observation radius out for the location of the Chinese satellite photos. This shows the proximity of yesterday's two big leads.
So did McKay spot flight MH370 burning in the sky from the deck of the Songa Mercur, or will the airliner ultimately turn up hundreds or thousands of miles away? With 10 countries, 56 ships, 30 aircrafts, and 10 shipboard helicopters searching an area the size of Portugual (35,000 square miles) and growing, only time will tell... www.oilpro.com
