Malaysia discounts possible missing plane sighting in Maldives

Malaysia's acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein (R) speaks during a news conference about the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 18, 2014

Kuala Lumpur:  Investigators probing the disappearance of a Malaysia Airlines jetliner with 239 people on board have discounted reports the plane may have been sighted over the Maldives, Malaysia's Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said. 

Several residents of Kudahuvadhoo, one of the more remote atolls in the Indian Ocean island chain nation, had reported seeing a low-flying aircraft on the morning of March 8, when Flight MH370 disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Hishammuddin told a daily news conference on Wednesday that the reports had been investigated by police in the Maldives and were determined to be untrue.