Malaysia discounts possible missing plane sighting in Maldives

KUALA LUMPUR, March 19 (Reuters) - 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.

(Reporting by Alex Richardson; Editing by Nick Macfie)

((alex.richardson@thomsonreuters.com)(+603 2333 8034)(Reuters Messaging: alex.richardson.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: MALAYSIA AIRLINES/MALDIVES