British Sailor Recounts Seeing MH370 on Fire, Believes She Knows Crash Location
PHUKET, Thailand – Twelve years after the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, a British sailor has come forward with a startling claim: she witnessed the aircraft on fire as it crashed into the Indian Ocean in 2014. Katherine Tee, of Liverpool, says she reported the sighting to authorities shortly after, but only recently revisited the details, convinced her observation holds the key to solving one of aviation’s greatest mysteries.
On March 8, 2014, MH370 vanished from radar 40 minutes into its flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members. Despite extensive searches, only scattered debris has been recovered along the coasts of Africa and on islands in the Indian Ocean.
Tee and her husband, Marc Horn, were sailing from Cochin, India, to Phuket, Thailand, when she says she saw a “bright orange” glow and a “trail of black smoke” over the ocean. Initially, she questioned her own sanity, telling the Phuket Gazette she thought she “was going insane.”
“I thought I saw a burning plane cross behind our stern from port to starboard,” Tee explained. “It did occur to me that it might be a meteorite. But I thought it was more likely that I was going insane.”
She continued, describing the object as having “orange lights” and appearing “longer than planes usually do.” Tee initially assumed another aircraft would report the sighting, but after hearing news of the missing flight two days later in Phuket, she began to doubt her memory.
Revisiting the GPS logs from their voyage, Tee found her recollection aligned with the last confirmed contact authorities had with MH370. She subsequently reported her sighting to the Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) in June 2014.
The disappearance of MH370 has prompted numerous theories and investigations, with experts suggesting the aircraft may have deviated significantly from its planned route. The search for the plane was relaunched at the end of last year, utilizing cutting-edge technology, but has so far yielded no conclusive results.
The families of those on board continue to demand answers, marking the 10th anniversary of the disappearance with renewed calls for investigation. Tee’s account, while unconfirmed, offers a potential new lead in the ongoing search for the truth behind MH370’s fate.