On the 777 the suitable airports around his position would have been
Ho chi minh, Kuantan, KL, Subang, Langkawi, Penang, Johor Bahru, Sing etc some of those would have been closed at 2 am.
Could it have been, that after an unknown chain of events, they tried to line up for 09 of Phuket? That would at least be consistent with the alleged primary radar tracks.