Did islanders in Maldives see the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370? The jet is seen in one of the last ever pictures of it in Polish airspace in February (Picture: Reuters / File)

Residents on a remote island in Maldives claim they saw a ‘low-flying jumbo jet’ matching the description of the missing Malaysia Airlines plane in the hours after it disappeared.

Several residents of Kuda Huvadhoo, in Dhaalu Atoll, said they saw a white aircraft with red stripes flying so low over the island the plane’s doors were clearly visible.

Islanders claim they were disturbed by an incredibly loud noise at about 6.15am local time on March 8 and saw a plane travelling from north to south-east, towards Addu – the southern tip of Maldives, it is reported.



The alleged sighting – around 2,000 miles away from Kuala Lumpur – came hours after Beijing-bound flight MH370 vanished on the same day with 239 people on board.




Investigators now believe it was deliberately steered off-course after it took off from the Malaysian capital.

No trace of the plane has been found, ten days after it disappeared (Picture: EPA)

One witness told HaveeruOnline: ‘I’ve never seen a jet flying so low over our island before. We’ve seen seaplanes, but I’m sure that this was not one of those. I could even make out the doors on the plane clearly.

‘It’s not just me either, several other residents have reported seeing the exact same thing. Some people got out of their houses to see what was causing the tremendous noise too.’

The last ‘ping’ signal from the aircraft was detected by a satellite in an area near a US naval base on Diego Garcia and Maldives.

HaveeruOnline has also quoted a local aviation expert as saying the plane spotted above Maldives is ‘likely’ to be missing MH370 as instances of any aircraft flying over the island at the reported time was rare.

A total of 26 countries are helping to search for the missing plane – but Maldives is not one of them.