(Oct 12): The Philippine navy has denied sightings of wreckage of a Malaysian plane in the southern island of Tawi-Tawi, reports the Inquirer.

The Inquirer reported that Captain Giovanni Carlo Bacordo, commander of Naval Task Force 61, said they had deployed a gunboat to investigate the claims of a man about the sightings of the wreckage.

“Since yesterday, we deployed a gunboat there because of the news. We interviewed the people there, the fishermen, but they have no knowledge about it,” he was reported as saying.

Bacordo added that locals had no knowledge of it and were surprised by the news.

Malaysian daily The Star said a report was lodged on Saturday with Sandakan authorities about the sighting of the wreckage.

It said that Jamil Omar, 46, had gone to the police with the information he got from his aunt, who claimed to have been told about it from her relatives who were hunting for birds on Sugbay Island, Tawi-Tawi, last week.

It added that Jamil said skeletal remains fastened to their seats were seen in the plane, which was believed to be part of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

Flight MH370 remains one of the most baffling aviation disasters in history. It disappeared in March last year, while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew members on board.

This latest rumour comes after French authorities confirmed a piece of wing found on the shore of Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean has been identified as part of the MH370 wreckage.

The flaperon was found on the shore of the French island on July 29 and Putrajaya said paint colour and maintenance-record matches proved it came from the missing Boeing 777. – The Malaysian Insider