A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 is missing after disappearing from radar over the South China Sea yesterday afternoon. The plane was carrying 239 people. A search is still ongoing.
As of 7 a.m. EST, the plane had still not been located, and the airline had not confirmed whether it had crashed. Vietnamese state media reported the plane has crashed into the South China Sea, quoting a senior naval official. M Malaysia's transport minister later denied a crash scene had been identified.
However, two oil slicks spotted by the Vietnam air force are believed to be signs of the jetliner, according to an AP report.
The plane was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. About two hours after departure, radar contact was lost in Vietnamese airspace while the plane was traveling at 35,000 feet. There was no distress call.
The aircraft had enough fuel for seven hours.
The 239 people on board were from 14 different countries, including 160 from China and 4 from the United States. The pilot and first officer were both experienced flyers. On Monday, the airline released the names of all passengers missing on the Malaysia Airlines flight.
"We deeply regret that we have lost all contacts with flight MH 370 which departed Kuala Lumpur at 12.41 am earlier this morning bound for Beijing," said CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya in a statement.
Flight MH370 departed from Kuala Lumpur at 12:41 a.m. and lost contact with air traffic control two hours later. The flight was expected to land in Beijing at 6:30 a.m. Reuters reported that radar contact was lost over Vietnam's airspace.
"We are doing everything in our power to locate the plane. We are doing everything we can to ensure every possible angle has been addressed," a Malaysian Airways official told Reuters."We are looking for accurate information from the Malaysian military. They are waiting for information from the Vietnamese side."
"At the moment we have no idea where this aircraft is right now," Malaysia Airlines Vice President of Operations Control Fuad Sharuji said on CNN's "AC360."
The B77-200 aircraft was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members, who hailed from 14 different countries. The majority of passengers were Chinese, Xinhua reports. There were four Americans onboard, including one infant, an airline official said in a press conference.
The captain and first officer of the plane were experienced pilots. Capt. Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53, began with the airline in 1981 and had logged 18,365 flying hours, while First Officer Fariq Ab.Hamid, 27, joined in 2007 and had 2,763 hours logged.
Malaysia's Fuad Sharuji told CNN that the missing plane had enough fuel for seven hours, and it would have run out of fuel by now, tweeted Lana Lam of South China Morning Post. Sharuji later told CNN's Piers Morgan the plane was traveling at 35,000 feet and did not send any distress call.
"There has been speculation that the aircraft has landed at Nanming [China]. We are working to verify the authenticity of the report and others," the airline said in a statement." ... Malaysia Airlines is currently working with the authorities who have activated their Search and Rescue team to locate the aircraft."
One report in local Vietnamese media said a signal from the aircraft had been picked up off the coast, but Pham Hien, director of a Vietnam maritime search and rescue center, told Reuters, "t he information on local media about the signal near the Cape Ca Mau was inaccurate."
"We still need to confirm everything," Lai Xuan Thanh, chief of Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, told The Wall Street Journal."[There were] no reports of bad weather in the region at the time of the signal loss. We are ready to deploy search-and-rescue operations."
Boeing tweeted this statement: "We’re closely monitoring reports on Malaysia flight MH370. Our thoughts are with everyone on board."
The Boeing 777-200 is a long-range aircraft powered by two jet engines, according to Airliners.net.
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Here's the airline's first press release:
Sepang, 8 March 2014: Malaysia Airlines confirms that flight MH370 has lost contact with Subang Air Traffic Control at 2.40am, today (8 March 2014).
Flight MH370, operated on the B777-200 aircraft, departed Kuala Lumpur at 12.41am on 8 March 2014. MH370 was expected to land in Beijing at 6.30am the same day. The flight was carrying a total number of 227 passengers (including 2 infants), 12 crew members.
Malaysia Airlines is currently working with the authorities who have activated their Search and Rescue team to locate the aircraft.
The airline will provide regular updates on the situation. Meanwhile, the public may contact +603 7884 1234 for further info.
The airline put out this second release an hour later:
[#MASalert] Statement By Our Group Chief Executive Officer, Ahmad Jauhari Yahya on MH370 Incident. Released at 9.05am/8 Mar 2014 MY Local Time
We deeply regret that we have lost all contacts with flight MH370 which departed Kuala Lumpur at 12.41 am earlier this morning bound for Beijing.
The aircraft was scheduled to land at Beijing International Airport at 6.30am local Beijing time.
Subang Air Traffic Control reported that it lost contact at 2.40am (local Malaysia time) today.
Flight MH370 was operated on a Boeing B777-200 aircraft.
The flight was carrying a total number of 239 passengers and crew – comprising 227 passengers (including 2 infants), 12 crew members. The passengers were of 13 different nationalities.
Malaysia Airlines is currently working with the authorities who have activated their Search and Rescue team to locate the aircraft.
Our team is currently calling the next-of-kin of passengers and crew.
Focus of the airline is to work with the emergency responders and authorities and mobilize its full support.
Our thoughts and prayers are with all affected passengers and crew and their family members.
The airline will provide regular updates on the situation.
The public may contact +603 7884 1234. For media queries, kindly contact +603 8777 5698/ +603 8787 1276.