He said this is because no debris was found in the area surrounding the straits, but in the Indian Ocean instead.

“Global experts have identified the southern Indian Ocean as the area, and this was proven by the drift simulation.

“Debris believed to be from the plane was found in the southern Indian Ocean,” he told FMT.

Aziz was responding to reports of four Indonesian fishermen claiming to have witnessed the final minutes of MH370 when it disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) to China on March 8, 2014.

One of the four, Rusli Kusmin, told reporters in Subang Jaya yesterday they had seen the plane descending as if about to land in the Straits of Melaka while they were out fishing that morning.

Rusli, in his 30s, claimed his boat had been about 2km from where the plane hit the water.

Aziz said the government should not entertain the claim made by these fishermen.

“We can turn away from that viewpoint simply because it has been five years, and there has been no indication or proof to show the aircraft went down there,” he said.

On whether search and rescue operations for MH370 should be reopened, Aziz said it could be done if new clues are found.

“But as of now, there are no new clues to enable the search-and-rescue team to carry out a new search,” he said.

MH370 disappeared from radar with 239 people on board, becoming one of the world’s greatest aviation mysteries.

A deep-sea search mission carried out for almost three years by Australia, China and Malaysia to locate the aircraft in the Indian Ocean covered 120,000 sq km.

The search was called off after futile attempts at locating the wreckage of the plane.