MH370 mysteriously vanished while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014. The Boeing 777 had 239 people on board and last communicated with air traffic control at 1.19am when the plane was flying over the South China Sea. However, a pilot who was flying in the same airspace as MH370 claimed he made contact with the doomed jet at 1:30am via the plane’s emergency frequency.

It was revealed during the first episode of 2018 YouTube series, “Lost flight MH370”, how Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh Air Traffic Control requested pilots of commercial flights in close proximity to MH370 to try to make contact with the plane.

According to one pilot, who was on his way to Narita, Japan, he was successful. 

Not only that, but the Boeing 777 captain, who asked to not be named, said he did not believe it was the voice of Captain Zaharie Shah on the other end of the line. 

He told New Straits Times in 2014: “We managed to establish contact with MH370 just after 1.30am and asked them if they had transferred into Vietnamese airspace.

“The voice on the other side could have been either Captain Zaharie Shah or Fariq Abdul Hamid, but I was sure it was the co-pilot.

“There was a lot of interference – static – but I heard mumbling from the other end.

“That was the last time we heard from them, as we lost the connection.”

He said anyone in the vicinity and on the same frequency would also have heard the exchange, including any vessels on the waters below.

However, the pilot claimed the severity of the situation was not clear.

He added: “If the plane was in trouble, we would have heard the pilot making the Mayday distress call but I am sure that, like me, no one else up there heard it.

“Following the silence, a repeat request was made by the Vietnamese authorities to try establishing contact with them.”

It comes after Ghyslain Wattrelos, a distraught relative whose wife and two children were on board the doomed jet, made a shock claim MH370 was shot down. 

He told France 24 in June 2018 how data from Inmarsat shows the plane had to pass through seven military zones before its final “handshake” with satellites over the Indian ocean.

Mr Wattrelos said: “If you look at the flight path, there are at least seven countries and seven militaries that should have seen that plane. 

“I understand if you switch off the communications then civilian radars will not see anything, but the military radars are made to pick up ghost planes. 

“All seven of those countries claim they did not see anything. 

“Not possible, it is not possible.”

He went on to reveal two possible scenarios that might suggest the plane was shot down.

He added: “Most probably what happened was the plane was shot down. 

“There are two reasons you could have. 

“One reason is there is something or someone in that plane that cannot land in Beijing. 

“And the other could be terrorists on the plane and they wanted to stop another 9/11.”

Mr Wattrelos still maintains his claim that MH370 could have been shot down because of these two reasons. 

Last year, he released a book on the missing jet in France, titled “Vol MH370. Une vie détournée” where he explores several conspiracy theories and argues that the truth was covered up. 

On March 3, 2019, he told Yahoo France: “My only certainty is that people know and they do not want to tell us the truth. 

“But I have no certainty about what happened. 

“Five years later, the investigation that is completed today has not given us any answers. 

“A plane of this size cannot disappear, given the surveillance means they have on the area.”