The long-running search for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 has received a new twist, with a US-based truth-seeker claiming that the search for the plane had been in the wrong place all along.

Yao Ming, who allegedly studies satellite engineering at Stanford University, told the Daily Express that the fateful Boeing 777 could have crashed off the eastern coast of Vietnam.

"One very possible outcome which has been instantly disregarded are the coordinates off the Vietnamese coast at N14.9, E109.15 where MH370 was apparently tracked," Yao is quoted as saying.

The student is said to have contacted Daniel Boyer, an MH370 hunter from the UK who believes, based on satellite images he saw, that the plane crashed in the jungle northwest of Cambodia's capital.

Yao Ming said: "Using simple algebra I am able to plug in distances from the alleged coordinates to Daniel Boyer's crash coordinates with the time frame given by air traffic control.

"From my calculations, if the ignored air traffic control coordinates are correct, the jetliner flew roughly 230-250 miles within a time frame of 33 minutes, giving an average ground speech of about 460-470mph in this time frame and an exact distance from both coordinates.

"The average speed of a Boeing 777 in its last half hour of flight matches the exact needed speed to get from these coordinates within air traffic control's time frame."

This theory is at odds with the findings of the official investigation, which concluded that the Boeing did not make it to the location indicated by Yao.

MH370, with 239 people on board, disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on 8 March 2014. According to Malaysian investigators, the jetliner made a detour over the South China Sea less than an hour into the flight and flew back across Malaysia.

Its final communication with the satellite was tracked to the southwestern Indian Ocean.

Two extensive search operations have been carried out in this part of the ocean, one led by Malaysian authorities and another by US-based seabed exploration company Ocean Infinity. The search has eventually proven fruitless, but several pieces of debris that likely belonged to the missing Boeing have been found in the western Indian Ocean, off the coast of Madagascar and the island of Réunion.