POSSIBLE SIGHTING: Businessman saw bright white light in sky from the compound of his house
A BUSINESSMAN yesterday claimed that he saw a bright white light descending at high speed towards the South China Sea early Saturday morning.
The sighting was made at 1.45am by Alif Fathi Abdul Hadi, 29, from the compound of his house in Kampung Kadok, Ketereh.
Alif lodged a report with the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency at 11am yesterday, believing that the "white light" could possibly have been Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
He told the New Straits Times that the light looked like those used by aircraft during take-off and landing during night flights.
Alif said he watched the lights for about five minutes before realising it was descending.
"I was walking towards the rear of my house when I saw the light, and wondered where it was heading to.
"The airspace here is like a highway for aircraft and they usually travel in routine patterns.
"However, the light I saw was moving towards a completely different direction.
"It was going towards the sea, near Bachok," he said.
Asked how he came to that conclusion, Alif said the aircraft he usually sees fly right across the sky for as far as his eyes could see, but the light he saw in the wee hours of Saturday disappeared from view behind some coconut trees.
He said he thought nothing of it and went to sleep after that. Later that day, when he found out about MH370, he felt uneasy.
Alif said he decided to lodge the report after relatives said he should do it, in case the light he saw was indeed MH370.
He was accompanied by his uncle, Rosman Ishak, 55.
"I hope this information can be of some help to the search party.
"I felt sad watching the grieving families of the passengers and crew on the news and pray they are safe."
Meanwhile, a fisherman claimed yesterday that he had sighted an aircraft flying at a low altitude overhead while fishing off Kuala Besar, about 8km from here.
Azid Ibrahim, 55, said he was on a boat with five other anglers when he spotted a bright light streaking overhead at 1.30am on Saturday.
"Usually, lights from an airplane look like distant stars at night but the one that I saw was big as the aircraft was flying below the clouds."
Azid, who has been a fisherman for 10 years, said it was only he and another friend who saw the light, as the others were asleep.
"I followed the light for about five minutes before it disappeared."
He said it was estimated that the location of his boat was about eight nautical miles off Kuala Besar.