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British marine archaeologist claims he's found MH370 debris off Vietnam coast - 3,000 miles from search area
Tim Akers, 56, believes he has identified a section of what he thinks is a tail of the missing jet off the coast of Vietnam - around 1,000 miles from where the plane took off in Kuala Lumpur
A British marine archaeologist claims to have found the remains of Flight MH370 - more than 3,000 miles from the current search area.
Tim Akers has been studying Australian waters off Perth for year in a search for remains of HMAS Sydney, the country’s lost World War Two warship.
So far international air, sea and satellite searches for the doomed Malaysian Airlines plane have proved fruitless, but Mr Akers, 56, says he’s located the jet’s tail off the coast of Vietnam.
His claims may be more credible than you’d think - in 2006 Mr Akers said he’d found HMAS Sydney, despite 60 years of government and international searches.
His claim was then seemingly verified in March 2008 when the wreck was discovered by American marine scientist David Mearns, near the same location Mr Akers predicted off the coast of Australia.
There are inconsistencies in Mr Akers' sighting however - most notably the large tanker spotted near the supposed plane debris.
But Mr Akers believes boats registered to Vietnam have been in contact with the 'debris' supposedly spotted in the South China Sea.
He says the boat pictured next to the sighting is a Vietnamese floating storage production ship.
And while the marine researcher claims the mysterious shape is debris from Flight MH370, others have dismissed it simply as an oil flare.
Mr Akers’ search method combines images from different parts of the light spectrum. Using software he developed, he said he’s able to look 10,000 feet under the sea.
By processing data from satellite images from Landsat 7 - NASA's primary photographic satellite and the basis for Google Earth - he has been scouring the area for missing flight MH370.
Mr Akers said he has now identified a section of what he believes is a tail of the jet off the coast of Vietnam - around 1,000 miles from where the plane took off in Kuala Lumpur.
His findings appear to support reports this week from former pilot Michael Hoebel, from New York, who believes he found the wreckage of the flight off the coast of Thailand.
Mr Akers claims to have identified sections of the aircraft close to where Vietnam authorities received a report from oil workers, who saw a plane burning coming out of the sky.
The marine archaeologist - who is referenced as an independent researcher with the National Maritime Museum - said the jet having crashed in the South China Sea was far more plausible than it making it to the Southern Ocean.
[MH370: 'Highly Unlikely' Debris Will Be Found]
Images taken by Tim from satellite scans appear to show what he claims are a 'tail', 'wings' and other debris.
Mr Akers, from Wetherby, North Yorkshire, said: 'There are a lot of theories around at the moment but that is wreckage from flight MH370.
'As to why the ship would have passed it by or not reported it, I do believe there could be something more sinister going on the authorities may not be telling us.
'The problem with the debris field in the Southern Ocean is that it has to be considered - what other material could be mimicking the debris?
'The only material that could be giving off signals randomly and persistently and multi-coloured debris is remnants from the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004 which is still trapped in currents.
'The Japanese earthquake was the same magnitude and its debris is still travelling across the Pacific Ocean - it too will have things which are making noise on scans in the sea.
'The very fact that no debris from a crashed aircraft has been seen or found at sea or on land or beach in Australia so far gives good reason to doubt there's any truth in it ever having been there.
[Missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 Conspiracy Theories: Logical, Weird, Mysterious and Absurd]
'Reports from the pilot in the US that the plane is seen off Thailand would back up my findings because the plane would break up soon afterwards and the currents in that region are strong.'
He said it also appeared on his images that ships registered to Vietnam have been in contact with the wreckage.
He said: 'There's no question it could be anything else, because aircraft parts are very distinctive.
'Having seen the oil rig worker's report of the crash and NASA's satellite images of the area it would seem strange the Malaysian authorities have dismissed the area out of hand.
'Logically they should have checked it out by aircraft at low altitude and by a surface warship, but it looks like they chose not to. That in itself is very odd.
'Fortunately the water there is shallow as it's on the continental shelve and there will be debris all over the sea floor.'
Tim has published his claims on his site www.australias-titanic.com.
