How could a commercial airliner disappear without a sign , you ask ? In fact , several people on the ground or at sea claimed they saw Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 before it went missing after its post-midnight takeoff from Kuala Lumpur on March 8 . The purported eyewitnesses include fishermen , an oil rig worker and islanders in an atoll . Some even alleged they saw it crash . While none of their claims have been substantiated , their assertions add to the ongoing mystery of the missing Boeing 777 and the 239 people aboard . Sighting claim : Kota Bharu , Malaysia . In the middle of the night , two fishermen near the Malaysia-Thailand border saw a plane flying low over the South China Sea -- at the same time that air traffic controllers lost contact with Flight 370 over the same body of water , at 1:30 a.m. or almost 50 minutes after takeoff . Fisherman Azid Ibrahim and a friend had taken people fishing that night off the coast of Kota Bharu . `` I was fishing when I saw the plane -- it looked strange . Flying low . I told my friend that 's not normal . Normally , it flies at 35,000 feet . But that night it touched the clouds . I thought the pilot must be crazy , '' Ibrahim said . `` It was really low . I saw the lights they looked like the size of a coconut , '' he said . Their fishing grounds lay under a flight path , but the predawn plane was unusual to see because of its low altitude , they said . The fishermen filed a police report about their sighting , but Malaysian officials have n't commented . Location , weather may hamper search . Sighting claim : Oil rig off Vietnam . A New Zealand man working on an oil rig off Vietnam claimed he saw a burning object in the sky Saturday morning , hours after the plane had taken off . Mike McKay of New Zealand was stationed on the Sona-Mercur oil rig on seas about 186 miles southeast of Vung Tau , a coastal Vietnamese town outside Ho Chi Minh City , according to CNN affiliate Radio New Zealand . McKay wrote of his sighting in an e-mail , the news outlet said . `` Gentlemen . I believe I saw the Malaysian Airlines flight come down . The timing is right . I tried to contact Malaysian and Vietnamese officials several days ago . But I do not know if the message has been received , '' he wrote last week . `` I observed the plane burning at high altitude at a compass bearing of 265 to 275 degrees from our surface location . `` While I observed ( the plane ) it appeared to be in one piece . From when I first saw the burning ( plane ? ) until the flames went out ( at high altitude ) was 10-15 seconds . There was no lateral movement so it was either coming toward our position stationary ( falling ) or going away from our location . The general position of the observation was perpendicular/south-west of the normal flight path and at a lower altitude than the normal flight paths , '' he wrote . In fact , Vietnamese authorities dispatched aircraft last week to search for the plane , in response to McKay 's report , the affiliate reported . When the Vietnamese navy sent a plane to conduct a search , it found nothing , ABC News reported . Vietnamese naval officer Le Minh Thanh told that network that the plane investigated the area cited by McKay , but the search came up empty . New theories about what happened to missing flight . Sighting claim : Maldives atoll . On a remote island in the Maldives , residents claimed they saw a `` low flying jumbo jet '' the same morning that the Malaysia plane disappeared , according to the website of the Maldivian news outlet Haveeru . Residents on the isle of Kuda Huvadhoo in the Dhaalu Atoll gave a description that matched the commercial airliners : white with red stripes , according to the news outlet . `` 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 , '' an unidentified eyewitness said , according to Haveeru . `` 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 . '' These claims , published in a story Tuesday , were dismissed by Malaysian officials . The Maldives coast guard told CNN it had no reports of such sightings and had not even been requested to conduct a search . The acting Malaysian transport minister also declared the reports false . `` I can confirm that the Malaysian Chief of the Defense Force has contacted his counterpart in the Maldives , who has confirmed that these reports are not true , '' Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said at a press conference . The Maldives Ministry of Defense and National Security also confirmed that their radar systems and surveillance mechanisms show no indication of the missing plane . Sighting claim : Off Indonesia coast . Indonesian fishermen claim they saw an airplane crash around the Strait of Malacca on the morning of March 9 -- more than a full day after the Malaysian plane took off -- the Indonesian state news agency Antara reported late Monday . The strait lies between Indonesia and Malaysia . The Indonesia fishermen , based in the North Sumatra provincial subdistrict of Pangkalan Susu , went to sea for a week of fishing on March 9 , a Sunday . At 11 a.m. , they saw a plane crash , Antara reported . `` We saw an airplane crash around the Malacca Straits , '' a fisherman identified as Hendra said , according to Antara . The fishermen saw a white plane crossing and circling , Antara reported . Smoke came from the plane 's right rear portion when it circled for a second round and tilted to the left , the agency said . Flying lower , the plane then fell from sight . `` We suspect the plane crashed into the sea , '' Hendra said , according to Antara . `` We could not go to the location where the aircraft was lost due to large waves , and the boat did not have enough fuel . '' The aircraft is believed to have crashed in waters off the Aceh provincial district of East Aceh . But there are two problems with these fishermen 's account . They spotted the plane more than 24 hours after it took off from Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia . And Indonesian military officials said their radar did n't spot Flight 370 . The Jakarta Post reported that Indonesian air force spokesman Air Commodore Hadi Tjahjanto said the Air Force 's radar in Lhokseumawe , Aceh , did n't detect the missing flight in the area that the Malaysian military suggested was the plane 's last detected position , around Penang waters . `` Our radar information has been shared with our Malaysian counterparts , '' the air force spokesman added , according to the Jakarta Post . LIVE : Latest updates on the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner . If this is the debris of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 , what happens next ? Anger as relatives confront officials . Difficulties may hamper Flight 370 search . Searching for the plane truth -- amid speculation .
Earthbound witnesses claim they saw Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 flying low or even low . But none of the claims is substantiated by authorities . People in Malaysia and Vietnam claim they saw the plane . A New Zealand ##er on an oil rig off Vietnam claims he saw a plane burning .