British sailor who 'saw Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 just before crash' explains what she witnessed

A British sailor who believes she may have spotted Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 on the fateful night of its disappearance shared details of her account.

It's been over a decade since flight MH370 departed from the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.

However, the jet would vanish just 40 minutes into its flight to Beijing, China, with authorities yet to recover anything more than a few pieces of debris.

To this day, it remains one of the biggest aviation mysteries.

The lack of definitive evidence to prove MH370's ultimate fate has since led to numerous theories developing, as well as people coming forward to claim they saw the aircraft on its doomed voyage.

This list includes British sailor Katherine Tee, who revealed details of her account to the Phuket Gazette back in June 2014.

It's been over 10 years since the flight vanished (How Foo Yeen/Getty Images)

What did British sailor Katherine Tee claim to see?

Recalling her whereabouts on 8 March with the outlet, Tee explained that she and her husband Marc Horn were travelling from Cochin, India, to Phuket.

While crossing the Indian Ocean that night, she said she noticed what appeared to be a plane on fire crossing through the sky.

She explained that she'd been on night watch and the only person awake on the boat when she noticed what looked like an aircraft with orange lights.

"I saw something that looked like a plane on fire," Tee claimed.

"That’s what I thought it was. Then, I thought I must be mad… It caught my attention because I had never seen a plane with orange lights before, so I wondered what they were."

She continued: "I could see the outline of the plane, it looked longer than planes usually do. There was what appeared to be black smoke streaming from behind it."

A few pieces of debris have been recovered (Adli Ghazali/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

'Perhaps I really did see it'

Tee added that she'd seen other aircraft in the sky at the time and believed that, if it was a plane on fire, another pilot would report it.

"I remember thinking that if it was a plane on fire that I was seeing, the other aircraft would report it," she said.

"I wondered again why it had such bright orange lights. They reminded me of sodium lights. I thought it could be some anomaly or just a meteor."

Tee went on to explain that she'd kept the sighting to herself until the boat reached Phuket as she was having marital issues at the time and was encouraged by local sailors to report her experience.

However, the Liverpool native was unsure about what she saw and kept quiet for several more months.

This changed when she read about a search being called off due to technical problems a couple of months later, leading her to go through her own yacht logs.

"The first time I told him [Marc] was after hearing the radio report. That is when we checked our GPS log and realised that perhaps I really did see it," Tee explained.

Katherine Tee was inspired to make a report about her sighting after hearing about a search vessel on the radio a few months later (ARIF KARTONO/AFP via Getty Images)

After sharing their data on Cruisers Forum, the couple discovered they may have been in one of the projected flight paths, prompting Tee to make an official report of her sightings.

Revealing her regrets at not reporting the incident sooner, she added: "Maybe I should have had a little more confidence in myself. I am sorry I didn't take action sooner."

What have authorities said about MH370?

It's unclear whether or not Tee's sighting was ever investigated after she reported it to the Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC), however, searches for the plane continue to take place.

Investigations to uncover the remains and mystery of MH370 are still ongoing as of 2025, with recent searches being suspended in April as it is currently 'not the season' (via Reuters).