Claims of aircraft wreckage on Sugbay Island fuels speculation

The alleged discovery of an aircraft wreckage filled with human skeletons on an southern Philippine island has created much speculation especially as it had been linked to the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370, which had been declared as missing.

It began with a claim by a teenager who said he stumbled upon the wreckage while hunting for birds in a valley on Sugbay Island, Tawi-Tawi early September.

He also claimed to have found a dilapidated piece of cloth at the same location which is said to be the Malaysian flag. He had initially wanted to it as a blanket.

“The residents on the island hunt birds for food and build their houses on the water. They don’t watch television and as such they have no knowledge of the outside world,” said Jamil Omar, the individual who lodged the police report on the find yesterday.

According to Jamil, the find had become the talk of the town and that is how his aunt, Siti Kayam, came to know about it. She is currently residing on the island and often travels to Sabah.

“She (Siti Kayam) was shocked to learn that the item, that was removed from the aircraft wreckage as claimed by the teenager, was the Malaysian flag,” Jamil told Astro AWANI.

Jamil said, the piece of cloth was still intact but had already been washed.

He added, several police officers had come to his home to record his aunt’s statement and took the piece of cloth with them.

On Saturday, Sabah police chief, Datuk Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman in a statement had confirmed receiving the police report at the Sandakan police station on Friday leading police to launch an investigation.

'Philippine police baffled'

In a related development, authorities in the southern Philippines were baffled over claims of the discovery of aircraft wreckage, with a Malaysian flag inside, in the jungles of a remote island.

A senior Philippine police officer at the regional headquarters for the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao said they had not received any report of a plane crash on any of their islands, The Star Online reported.

“We will investigate the matter but if there is any aircraft that has gone down in our area there would have been alerts from civil aviation authorities,” Supt Rodoleo Jocson said.

'Not compulsory'

An MAS cabin attendant told Astro AWANI that is was not compulsory for all of its aircraft to carry the Malaysian flag onboard.

“The flag was probably brought onboard by a passenger. You cannot simply link a dilapidated flag with MH370,” the attendant said.