gchriste
I'm sure it would be possible to calculate, from prevailing currents, how far the supposed wreckage could have drifted between the time the guy spotted what he thinks was a burning aircraft and the Chinese took their sat snaps.
If we supposed a current of 4 knots, or about 7.5km/h, seeing as the guy worked in Kilometres, it would have drifted about 180km in 24hrs. So it would still have been about 200km away from him when he spotted it. That's still a very long way and it would still have been a small object in the sky and mean that his guestimated distance was way out.