PETALING JAYA: The Australian Transport and Safety Bureau (ATSB) has today rubbished a claim by an amateur Australian expert in air crash investigations that he has found missing MH370 on Google Maps four years after its disappearance.

The flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing was carrying 239 people when it vanished on March 8, 2014.

Peter McMahon, an Australian mechanical engineer who claims to have worked in crash investigations for more than 25 years, has insisted he has discovered the plane, the Daily Star Online reported on Sunday.

The 64-year-old McMahon said he went through Nasa and Google Maps images since the plane disappeared. He has zeroed in on a location 16km south of Round Island, a small islet north of Mauritius.

ATSB reacted strongly to McMahon's claim and accused him of making "spurious claims".

"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 was quoted by Newshub as saying.

"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."