The Australian Transport and Safety Bureau (ATSB) has lashed out at a MH370 investigator who claims he's found the high-profile missing plane, riddled with bullet holes.
Flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing went missing in March 2014, with 239 passengers and crew on board. Despite extensive searches at a cost of nearly NZ$152 million, the main body of the airplane was never located.
Now Peter McMahon, an Australian engineer who claims to have over 25 years of crash investigation experience, claims he has found the plane's location.
His 'proof' has led to an angry backlash from the ATSB, which accuses Mr McMahon of making "spurious claims".
Mr McMahon has provided images from NASA and Google Maps which, he says, shows the aircraft near Round Island, north of Mauritius. The pictures appear to show what he says is the body of MH370 below the ocean surface.
He claims he sent his proof to the ATSB - which covered up the evidence.
"Four Americans were sent to Australia to oversee the findings of MH370," he told the Daily Star.
"They have made sure that all information received has been hidden from the public, even our government - but why?"
Mr McMahon claims that authorities "do not want it found as it's full of bullet holes - finding it will only open another inquiry".
But his allegations have led to an angry response from the ATSB.
"Mr McMahon contacted ATSB via Facebook and its general enquiries email in 2016 and 2017 respectively. At no stage did the ATSB suggest his evidence could be missing flight MH370," a spokesperson told Newshub.
"The images sent to ATSB by Mr McMahon, below, were captured on 6 Nov 2009, over four years before the flight disappeared.
"Spurious claims such as these must be particularly upsetting for the family and friends of those lost on Malaysia Airlines flight MH370."
Newshub.
