Malaysian flight with 239 people aboard missing, including 153 Chinese nationals

YouMakeMyDreams · Mar 8, 2014

Malaysian flight with 239 people aboard missing, including 153 Chinese nationals

Xinhua | 2014-3-8 9:17:57
By Agencies

Illustration of Malaysia Airlines' aircraft B777-200, screenshot from Malaysia Airlines official website. Source: Xinhua

A Malaysian passenger plane carrying 239 people has lost contact with air traffic control after leaving Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur, the carrier said Saturday.

The Boeing B777-200 aircraft departed Kuala Lumpur at 00:41 am Saturday, and was expected to land in Beijing at 6:30 a.m. the same day.

Malaysia Airlines said it was working with the authorities who have dispatched search and rescue team to locate the plane.

The flight MH370 with 227 passengers and 12 crew members on board lost radar contact in airspace controlled by Vietnam in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Reports says there were 160 Chinese citizen on board, and the plane was last contacted with an air traffic control center in Vietnam. Malaysia Airlines is currently working with the authorities search and rescue team to locate the aircraft.

YouMakeMyDreams · Mar 8, 2014

Malaysia Airlines hunts for missing plane carrying 239

World | Agence France-Press | Updated: March 08, 2014 08:51 IST

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Possible relative cries at the Beijing Airport after news of the missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200 plane in Beijing.

Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia Airlines said a flight carrying 239 people from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing went missing early Saturday, and the airline was notifying next of kin in a sign it feared the worst.

The airline said flight MH370 disappeared at 2:40 am local time (1840 GMT Friday), about two hours after leaving Kuala Lumpur International Airport. It had been due to arrive in Beijing at 6:30 am local time (2230 GMT Friday).

The Boeing 777-200 was carrying 227 passengers, including two infants, from 13 different nationalities, and 12 crew members.

China's state television said 158 of the passengers were Chinese. Some 160 Chinese had been due to be on the flight but two missed it, according to Xinhua, quoting China's Civil Aviation Administration.

"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," Malaysia Airlines Group Chief Executive Officer Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said in a statement.

The statement said the Malaysian flag carrier was working with authorities, who had launched an effort to locate the aircraft.

"Our team is currently calling the next-of-kin of passengers and crew," Ahmad Jauhari said.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with all affected passengers and crew and their family members."

The airline's Kuala Lumpur-Beijing route passes over the South China Sea, and remote parts of the Indochinese peninsula before entering southern Chinese airspace.

A Malaysian Airlines spokeswoman said she could not immediately provide further details, but the airline said it would soon hold a press conference in Kuala Lumpur.

"This news has made us all very worried," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in Beijing.

"We hope every one of the passengers is safe. We are doing all we can to get more details."

'Contact lost over Vietnam airspace'

A report by China's Xinhua news agency said contact was lost with the plane while it was over Vietnamese airspace.

Xinhua also quoted Chinese aviation authorities saying the plane did not enter China's air traffic control sphere.

A spokeswoman with a Thai agency that monitors the country's airspace told AFP the plane also did not cross over Thailand. Vietnamese officials said they had no information on the plane.

A Beijing airport spokeswoman said the facility had activated an emergency response system. Screens at the airport indicated the flight was "delayed".

An accident would be a huge blow for the carrier, which has bled money for years as its struggles to fend off competition from rivals such as fast-growing AirAsia.

It recorded its fourth straight quarterly loss during the final three months of 2013 and warned of a "challenging" year ahead due to intense competition.

The carrier admitted in 2012 it was in "crisis", forcing it to implement a cost-cutting campaign centred on slashing routes and other measures.

In 2011, it chalked up a record 2.5 billion ringgit ($767 million) loss.

In July 2013, a Boeing 777-200 operated by South Korea's Asiana Airlines skidded off the runway upon landing at San Francisco's international airport after it clipped a seawall before touching down.

Three people died.

"We're closely monitoring reports on Malaysia flight MH370. Our thoughts are with everyone on board," the manufacturer said in a statement on its Twitter feed.

Boeing has been beset by problems with its high-tech 787 Dreamliners put into service two years ago, including a months-long global grounding over battery problems last year.

The information vacuum regarding the flight touched off a frenzy on social media, which saw an outpouring of concern for passengers and unconfirmed rumours that the plane had landed safely in southern China.

Malaysian Airlines has said those rumours were false, The Star newspaper reported.

A spokesman told the Sydney Morning Herald that Australian passengers were on board but could not confirm how many.

Malaysia Airlines (MAS) has suffered few accidents in its history.

One of its jets crashed in 1977 in southern Malaysia, killing all 93 passengers and seven crew.

A smaller Twin Otter aircraft, operated by its unit MASwings, crashed upon landing in Malaysia's Sabah state on Borneo island last October, killing a co-pilot and a passenger.

There were no immediate signs of passenger relatives descending in large numbers on Beijing's airport.

An AFP journalist saw one woman enter the arrivals zone at the airport and break down in tears. She was led away by police.

YouMakeMyDreams · Mar 8, 2014

Vietnamese official denies detecting Malaysian missing plane's signal

Xinhua | 2014-3-8 12:47:07
By Agencies

A Vietnamese rescue official denied that the signal of the missing Malaysian plane has been detected.

Pham Hien, director of the Vietnam's maritime search and rescue coordination center zone 3, told Xinhua Saturday that the information that the signal of the plane has been detected at some 120 nautical miles southwest of Vietnam's southernmost Ca Mau province is incorrect.

"We have no such equipment for positioning," Hien told Xinhua.

YouMakeMyDreams · Mar 8, 2014

Vietnam rescue official says missing Malaysian plane's signal detected

Xinhua | 2014-3-8 11:45:54
By Agencies

A Vietnamese official of search and rescue said Saturday that the signal of the missing Malaysia Airlines plane has been detected, local media reported.

The official told local VNExpress that the signal of the plane with 227 passengers and 12 crew members on board has been detected at some 120 nautical miles southwest of Vietnam's southernmost Ca Mau province.

YouMakeMyDreams · Mar 8, 2014

Vietnam says oil slicks seen near where airliner vanished

By Thang Long Le (AFP) March 08, 2014

Family members look at a wedding album of Norliakmar Hamid (R, in veil) and Razahan Zamani, passengers on a missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200 plane in Kuala Lumpur on March 8, 2014 (AFP, Mohd Rasfan)

Hanoi — Vietnam said its search planes spotted oil slicks in the sea near where a Malaysia Airlines jet with 239 people mysteriously vanished on Saturday and was presumed lost.

The announcement came more than 18 hours after flight MH370 slipped off radar screens somewhere between Malaysia's east coast and southern Vietnam, triggering an international search effort.

"Two of our aircraft sighted two oil slicks around 15 to 20 kilometres (10-12 miles) long, running parallel, around 500 metres apart from each other," the army's deputy chief-of-staff, Vo Van Tuan, told state-run VTV.

"We are not certain where these two oil slicks may have come from so we have sent Vietnamese ships to the area."

The news was the first hint authorities may be nearing confirmation of the fate of the twin-engine jet, which was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

The plane had 227 passengers -- including 153 Chinese nationals -- and 12 crew, according to the airline.

- 'My house is a place of mourning' -

The plane's disappearance, apparently without a trace, had made for a torturous day for relatives desperate for news.

At Kuala Lumpur airport, Hamid Ramlan, a 56-year-old Malaysian police officer, said his daughter and son-in-law were on the flight for an intended holiday in Beijing.

"My wife is crying. Everyone is sad. My house has become a place of mourning," he said. "This is Allah's will. We have to accept it."

"Being a policeman over 33 years, this is my worst day."

MH370 had relayed no distress signal, indications of rough weather, or other signs of trouble, and both Malaysia's national carrier and the Boeing 777-200 model used on the route are known for their solid safety records.

"We are looking at all possibilities but it is too soon to speculate," Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said, when asked whether terrorism could have been a factor.

The plane's disappearance triggered a search effort involving vessels from several nations with rival maritime claims in the tense South China Sea.

China, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore threw vessels and aircraft into the effort.

Najib said the US Navy also had agreed to send planes to help.

Authorities would search "for as long as it takes", he said.

Overlapping claims to the South China Sea, a resource-rich, vital shipping lane, have been a growing source of friction between China and its neighbours.

- Contact lost shortly after takeoff -

Contact with the aircraft was lost at around 1:30 am Malaysian time (1730 GMT Friday), Malaysian authorities said, about an hour after take-off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

If the worst is confirmed, it would be only the second fatal crash ever for the widely used Boeing 777. A 777-200 operated by South Korea's Asiana Airlines skidded off the runway in San Francisco last year, killing three people.

Malaysia Airlines also has suffered few safety incidents. Its worst occurred in 1977, when 93 passengers and seven crew perished in a hijacking and subsequent crash in southern Malaysia.

Indonesia-based aviation analyst Gerry Soejatman said a "24-hour golden window" for search and rescue efforts was closing fast.

"You can't assume that there are no survivors, and if there are any, it is absolutely crucial that they are picked up within a day, or the chances of survival drops significantly," he said.

The 153 Chinese passengers aboard the plane included an infant, while 38 Malaysians and seven Indonesians were aboard.

Six Australians, four French nationals, and three Americans including an infant, were also among those listed.

Italian media reported that an Italian man whose name was on the passenger list had not actually boarded the plane as he had had his passport stolen, but someone else had apparently done so using the document.

The pilot had flown for the carrier since 1981, it said. The plane was more than 11 years old.

- 'We are very worried' -

"This news has made us all very worried," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in Beijing.

"We hope every one of the passengers is safe. We are doing all we can to get more details."

The lack of information sparked fury among anguished relatives in Beijing.

"They should have told us something before now," a visibly distressed man in his 30s said at a hotel where passengers' families were asked to gather.

"They are useless," another young man said of the airline. "I don't know why they haven't released any information."

A deadly accident would be a huge blow for Malaysian Airlines, which has bled money for years as its struggles to fend off competition from rivals such as fast-growing Malaysia-based AirAsia.

Analysts have blamed poor management, government interference, and union resistance to reform for holding back the airline.

YouMakeMyDreams · Mar 8, 2014

Relatives, friends waiting anxiously for arrival of missing flight

English.news.cn | 2014-3-8 11:41:01

Relatives and friends of passengers on a missing Beijing-bound Malaysian aircraft are waiting anxiously for arrival of the plane.

The Malaysia Airlines said on its website that a press conference would be held later in the day and the company is trying to locate the flight with emergency rescue teams.

Chuang Ken Fei, a Malaysian, has been waiting for his two friends in the Terminal 3 of Beijing Capital International Airport for over 3 hours.

"Staff at the airport told me the flight did not take off, but I can see from my mobile application that the aircraft was in the air," Chuang said.

The Boeing B777-200 left the Kuala lumpur International Airport at 00:41 am, a 3,700 km trip.

The CAAC confirmed the flight number was MH370, which carries 239 people, including 12 crew members and 158 Chinese passengers. So far, the flight hasn't contacted Chinese air traffic management department or entered China's air traffic control area.

The flight lost contact and its radar signal at 01:20 am Saturday when flying over the Ho Chi Minh air traffic control area in Vietnam.

"The news is very disturbing. We hope everyone on the plane is safe,"said China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

He made the remarks at a press conference on the sidelines of the annual session of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature.

Wang said that China's Foreign Ministry and the related departments had activated an emergency response mechanism.

"As soon as we have any more information, we will give it to you immediately," he told reporters.

YouMakeMyDreams · Mar 8, 2014

Xi urges Malaysia flight emergency response

Xinhua | 2014-3-8 15:30:38
By Agencies

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday urged emergency measures over the missing Malaysian flight bound for Beijing with more than 150 Chinese nationals on board.

Xi ordered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as Chinese embassies and consulates to strengthen contact with departments of relevant countries and pay close attention to the search and rescue work for the plane, which lost contact with traffic controllers at 1:20 a.m. on Saturday.

All-out efforts must be made for any emergency treatment necessary in the aftermath of the incident, Xi said in his instruction.

The Ministry of Transportation and the Civil Aviation Administration must launch emergency measures immediately and enhance security checks to ensure the "absolute safety" of China's civil aviation operation, according to the president.

The Beijing-bound flight MH370, a Boeing 777-200, departed Malaysia's capital of Kuala Lumpur at 00:42 a.m. Beijing time on Saturday, and was expected to land in Beijing at 6:30 a.m. the same day. The plane is carrying 239 people, including more than 150 Chinese passengers.

YouMakeMyDreams · Mar 8, 2014

YouMakeMyDreams · Mar 9, 2014

In full: Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 passenger list

PUBLISHED : Saturday, 08 March, 2014, 9:10pm
UPDATED : Saturday, 08 March, 2014, 9:10pm

Staff reporter

The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER that disappeared from air traffic control screens Saturday, taking off from Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport in France. Photo: AP

A full list of passengers and crew on board a missing Malaysian Airlines passenger jet was released by the company on Saturday evening.

A spokesman for the airline said: ”We would like to inform everyone that these are the people onboard our aircraft. All the families and next of kin have been informed.”

CREW

YouMakeMyDreams · Mar 9, 2014

Boeing 777 at centre of Malaysia Airlines disappearance had clocked up 'normal' 20,000 hours' flying time

Disappearance shocks experts due to plane's safety record

PUBLISHED : Saturday, 08 March, 2014, 2:09pm
UPDATED : Saturday, 08 March, 2014, 9:27pm

This photo taken in April, 2013, shows a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER at Narita Airport in Narita, near Tokyo. Photo: AP

The Boeing 777 is considered one of the safest aircraft in the skies, with barely a blemish on its 19-year safety record, a fact that has only deepened the mystery over the disappearance of a Malaysia Airlines jet.

The crash landing of an Asiana 777 in San Francisco in July last year was the first fatal incident involving the model; three of the 309 people on board died.

The Malaysia Airlines 777-200ER jet had been operating for 12 years and had logged 20,000 hours in the air, a record experts say is typical for a plane of that age.

The Post spoke to Hong Kong pilots with decades of experience behind them, all of whom were extremely surprised by yesterday’s events, especially given the model involved, and the reputation of the airline.

This aerial photo shows the wreckage of the Asiana Flight 214 airplane after it crashed at the San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco. Photo: AP

“The 777 is the safest airlines in the skies right now,” said one captain with more than two decades’ experience, adding that “it’s a remarkably safe and reliable aircraft”.

Malaysia Airlines has a strong reputation, the pilot added. Its fleet of planes would be well-maintained.

Before last year’s crash, the 1,000 777 jets in service worldwide had been involved in only one major incident. The came in January 2008, when a British Airways jet landed about 300 metres short of the at London’s Heathrow Airport.

Airlines like the plane because it is capable of flying extremely long distances thanks to two giant engines. Each engine is so massive that a row of at least five economy-class seats could fit inside it.

By having just two engines, the plane burns through less fuel than four-engine jets, like the Boeing 747, which it has essentially replaced.

The 777 was the first twin-engine plane to be immediately certified to fly over the ocean as far as 180 minutes from any emergency landing airport. Government safety regulators have determined that it could fly for nearly three hours on a single engine in the case of an emergency.

Such government approval has enabled airlines to fly routes such as New York to Hong Kong non-stop on the 777.

In addition to its ability to fly long distances and hold a large number of passengers, airlines like the 777 because they can fill its long belly with lots of profitable cargo.

According to data from CAPA Centre for Aviation, the average age of Malaysia Airlines’ 15 Boeing 777-200ER planes is 14.3 years.

The average age of its entire fleet of 93 aircraft is four-and-a-half years.

Malaysia Airlines did have an incident in August 2005 involving a 777 flying from Perth, Australia, to Kuala Lumpur. While flying 11,000 metres above the Indian Ocean, the plane’s software incorrectly measured speed and acceleration, causing it to suddenly ascend 900 metres.

The pilot disengaged the autopilot and descended and landed safely back in Perth. A software update was quickly made on planes around the world.

“We’re closely monitoring reports on Malaysia flight MH370,” Boeing said in a statement. “Our thoughts are with everyone on board.”

RARE FOR AIRCRAFT TO GO MISSING FOR SO LONG... BUT NOT UNHEARD OF

For an aircraft to go missing for hours on end, as the Malaysian Airlines flight did yesterday, is rare but not completely unheard of, even in the modern age of high-tech aviation.

The most famous recent case – before the mystery of Flight 370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing – was that of an Air France plane carrying 228 people from Brazil to France, which vanished after flying into a severe storm over the Atlantic Ocean in 2009.

The Airbus A330 sent an automatic message four hours after it left Rio de Janeiro reporting a short circuit. It then went missing mid-ocean, beyond the scope of radar coverage. It was thought at the time to have been hit by lightning.

The wreckage was not found until two years later. A report by French authorities in 2012 blamed a lack of pilot training in unexpected situations and faulty equipment for the disaster.

Autopilot was turned off and the pilots pulled up on the nose, causing the plane to lose speed, although the engines continued to work.

Other incidents involve smaller planes. Last month, 18 people were killed after a Nepal Airlines plane lost contact with ground control after it took off from Pokhara, a resort town.

The wreckage was located on a hill the next day, and authorities said bad weather caused the crash.

In April 2012, a UTair plane lost contact with the control tower shortly after it took off from Tyumen, Russia. It was later found to have crashed 40 kilometres from the airport, killing 33 people.

In perhaps the most mysterious case of recent years, a Boeing 727-223 took off from an airport in Angola without clearance and without contacting the tower.

The plane headed out over the Altantic Ocean, never to be seen again An American engineer and his Congolese assistant who were aboard the plane have not been heard of since.

There have been numerous reports of planes and ships disappearing in the area known as the Bermuda Triangle, in the western part of the North Atlantic.

While the number of disappearances have given the area a mysterious reputation, scientists say vessels were lost there mostly due to human error.

Leaps forward in technology have greatly reduced the number of airline accidents in recent years. Aviation monitoring group the Aviation Safety Network said there were just 265 fatalities in airline crashes worldwide, the lowest since the second world war.

YouMakeMyDreams · Mar 9, 2014

Five young children among missing Malaysia Airlines passengers as air search called off

Search for missing plane will resume at daylight, airline says

PUBLISHED : Saturday, 08 March, 2014, 9:05am
UPDATED : Sunday, 09 March, 2014, 12:27am

Danny Lee, Andrea Chen and Agencies

People believed to be passengers' relatives waiting at Beijing airport on Saturday morning. Photo: Reuters

An air search for a missing Malaysian Airlines passenger jet was on Saturday night called off until daylight, the company said, as a full list of passengers and crew on board was released by the company.

Five children aged from two to four years - two from the United States and three from China - were among the 239 people on board.

Two French teenagers, aged 14 and 17, were also among the missing, while the eldest flyer was a 79-year-old Chinese national.

A spokesman for the airline said: ”We would like to inform everyone that these are the people onboard our aircraft. All the families and next of kin have been informed.”

Vietnamese authorities said Saturday night that planes searching for the jet had spotted two oil slicks off the southern tip of the country.

A statement from the Vietnamese government said they were consistent with the kind of fuel slicks that would be left from a crashed jet and that they were sending boats to the area.

"Two of our aircraft sighted two oil slicks around 15 to 20 kilometres long, running parallel, around 500 metres apart from each other,” Lieutenant General Vo Van Tuan told state-run VTV.

President Xi Jinping ordered the Chinese Foreign Ministry and other authorities to take “all-out efforts” for emergency treatment in the aftermath of the incident, state-run Xinhua reported.

Malaysia Airlines said it was ruling out nothing –- including terrorism. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak also refused to rule out a terrorist act.

It emerged on on Saturday night that two of the passports used by passengers – one Austrian, one Italian – had been reported stolen in Thailand.

The passengers who used stolen passports booked their tickets through Guangzhou-based China Southern Airlines, the codeshare partner in the flight.

The Italian and Austrian governments confirmed that none of their nationals were on board.

The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER that disappeared from air traffic control screens Saturday, seen taking off from Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport in France in 2011. Photo: AP

The Boeing 777-200ER plane relayed no distress signal, indications of bad weather or technical problems before vanishing from radar screens some 18 hours ago, as it travelled from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Authorities said they had no idea what had happened to the plane, while Malaysia Airlines said they had "no information" on its whereabouts.

The flight was being piloted by Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, a Malaysian aged 53, with 18,365 hours' flying experience. He joined Malaysia Airlines in 1981.

Heartbreaking scenes were played out at Beijing and Kuala Lumpur airports as family and friends awaited news of the 227 passengers and 12 crew members on board, with tempers fraying as some demanded information.

Indonesia-based aviation analyst Gerry Soejatman said the clock was ticking on a “24-hour golden window” for search and rescue efforts.

“You can’t assume that there are no survivors, and if there are any, it is absolutely crucial that they are picked up within a day, or the chances of survival drops significantly,” he said.

The disappearance triggered a South China Sea search effort involving vessels from several nations with rival maritime claims to the region.

China, which has 153 of its nationals on the missing plane, said it had ordered maritime patrol vessels to begin scouring the area.

Vietnam’s defence ministry launched a rescue mission, the government said, and a Malaysian maritime official said the country had sent several planes and vessels.

The Philippines said it was sending three navy patrol boats and a surveillance plane. Singapore dispatched an air force C130 transporter on a ”search and locate mission”. It was not clear if other nations were cooperating.

Throughout the day confusing messages emerged, with the Vietnamese at one point being quoted as saying the plane had crashed into the ocean. The claim was later withdrawn.

A relative of a passenger onboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 cries at the Beijing Capital International Airport. Photo: Reuters

Malaysia Airlines said in a statement on Saturday afternoon that the company was "working with international authorities on the search and rescue mission" and that there was "no information" on the aircraft.

In a fresh statement released on Saturday evening the airline said: "We understand everyone's concern on MH370 pax & crew. We're accelerating every effort with all relevant authorities to locate the aircraft."

Pham Hien, a Vietnamese search and rescue official, earlier said the last signal had been detected120 nautical miles southwest of Vietnam's southernmost Ca Mau province.

Director of Vietnam's airspace, Lai Xuan Thanh, said the plane had been over the sea and heading towards the country's airspace, but air traffic controllers were unable to make contact with the pilots before it vanished.

There were 153 Chinese nationals on board, including one infant, an airline representative said at a press conference on Saturday morning. Also on board were passengers from the following countries and regions:

Liu Guohua, general manager of Malaysia Airlines in greater China, at a press conference in Beijing. Photo: Simon Song

Malaysia 38; Indonesia 7; Australia 6; India 5; France 4; United States 3 (including one infant); New Zealand 2, Ukraine 2, Canada 2; Russia 1, Italy 1, Taiwan 1, Netherlands 1, Austria 1. The spokesperson could not confirm if any HongKongers were among the Chinese nationals on board.

Dozens of relatives were on Saturday taken from Beijing airport to a nearby hotel where they were anxiously awaiting news of the aircraft's fate.

One man at the airport said his 60-year-old wife had been in a tour group with 20 other passengers onboard the flight.

Flight MH370 lost contact with air traffic controllers near Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam at around 2.40am local time, the airline said in a statement. No distress signal was relayed before the aircraft disappeared.

Malaysia Airlines CEO, Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, said in a press conference Saturday that the company was "deeply saddened" by news of the disappearance.

"Malaysia Airlines confirms that flight MH370 had lost contact with Subang Air Traffic Control at 2.40am, today.

"There has been speculation that the aircraft has landed at Nanming. We are working to verify the authenticity of the report and others.

china-malaysia-malaysiaairlines-transport-accident_41563005.jpg

A crying woman is escorted to a bus for relatives at the Beijing Airport after news of the missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200 plane on March 8, 2014. Photo: AFP

"Flight MH370 was operated on a Boeing 777-200 aircraft. It 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."

He added: "Our thoughts and prayers are with all affected passengers and crew and their family members."

A Malaysia Airlines spokesperson added that if the plane was in the air, it would have run out of fuel sometime around 8.30am.

Earlier Saturday rumours circulated that the plane had landed safely, but Fuad Sharuji, Malaysian Airlines’ vice president of operations control, told CNN that they were untrue and the airline had no idea where the aircraft was.

140307-flightinfoboard_27845ed1668db09d1ca13a36f29143e7.nbcnews-ux-960-700.jpg

An information board at Beijing airport shows the flight was "delayed". Photo: Reuters

“At this moment, we have got no idea where this aircraft is right now," he said on Saturday morning.

At Beijing’s airport, authorities posted a notice asking relatives and friends of passengers to gather to a hotel about 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the airport to wait for further information, and provided a shuttle bus service.

Zhai Le was waiting for her friends, a couple who were on their way back to the Chinese capital on the flight. She said she was very concerned because she had not been able to reach them.

A woman wept aboard the shuttle bus while saying on a mobile phone, “They want us to go to the hotel. It cannot be good.”

At Kuala Lumpur International Airport, family members looking sombre and distraught trickled in to a designated waiting area for loved ones, escorted by authorities.

“They gave us no information so far,” complained one man, who said his niece and her husband were on the flight for a one-week holiday in China.

Wang Yi, China’s Foreign Minister said: “The Foreign Ministry and the related Chinese embassies have started an emergency working mechanism. We will release the information as soon as possible."

Reporters and relatives waiting at the Beijing airport on Saturday. Photo: Weibo screenshot

“The Foreign Ministry and the relating Chinese embassies have started an emergency working mechanism and worked at our best to know about the concrete situation. We will release the information as soon as possible,” said Wang.

According to data from CAPA Centre for Aviation, the average age of Malaysia Airline’s fleet of Boeing 777-200ER are 14.3 years old. The average age of the fleet is 4.5 years old.

The same aircraft model of the Boeing 777-200ER crashed at San Francisco on July 6, last year. Asiana Airlines OZ214 crashed on landing at the west-coast American airport, killing three people and injuring 181 people.

China’s foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in a statement: “We are very concerned learning this news.”

“We are contacting relevant authorities and are trying to confirm relevant information.”

A map provided by live air traffic site flightradar24 shows the last position the flight was tracked

A Beijing airport spokeswoman said the facility had activated an emergency response system. Screens at the airport indicated the flight was “delayed.”

An accident would be a huge blow for the carrier, which has bled money for years as its struggles to fend off competition from rivals such as fast-growing AirAsia.

It recorded its fourth straight quarterly loss during the final three months of last year and warned of a “challenging” year ahead due to intense competition.

In 2012, the carrier admitted it was in “crisis”, forcing it to implement a cost-cutting campaign centred on slashing routes and other measures.

In 2011, it chalked up a record 2.5 billion ringgit ( US$767 million) loss. Boeing, which has been beset by problems with its high-tech 787 Dreamliners put into service two years ago, including a months-long global grounding over battery problems last year, issued a brief statement on its Twitter feed.

“We’re closely monitoring reports on Malaysia flight MH370. Our thoughts are with everyone on board,” it said.

MAS has suffered few accidents in its history.

One of its jets crashed in 1977 in southern Malaysia, killing all 93 passengers and seven crew.

A smaller Twin Otter aircraft, operated by its unit MASwings, crashed upon landing in Malaysia’s Sabah state on Borneo island last October, killing a co-pilot and a passenger.

YouMakeMyDreams · Mar 9, 2014

‘My son, my son!’ Agony of relatives forced to wait for news of missing Malaysia Airlines flight

PUBLISHED : Saturday, 08 March, 2014, 4:38pm
UPDATED : Saturday, 08 March, 2014, 11:01pm

Danny Lee, Keith Zhai and Adrian Wan in Beijing

Sarah Nor, 55, the mother of 34-year-old Norliakmar Hamid, a passenger on a missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200 plane, talks on a mobile phone at her house in Kuala Lumpur. Photo: AFP

Some sobbed, while others just held their faces in their hands or gazed blankly ahead, numbed by the day’s events.

While rescuers attempted to locate missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, friends and family of those on board struggled to comprehend how an aeroplane containing loved ones could seemingly vanish off the face of the earth.

As press gathered at both airports, authorities did their best to keep worried relatives out of the spotlight.

"My son, my son", one person wailed from a room at the Beijing hotel where loved ones were taken to await news.

"What am I going to do?"

A woman talks on phone at a reception centre for families and friends after an airliner went missing at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Photo: AFP

Another man said his 60-year-old wife had been on board the flight as part of a 20-strong tour group.

Anxious family members were kept in a hotel in northeast of Beijing since early afternoon, and emotions flared as they could not talk to any officials or airline staff, despite hours of waiting.

The Beijing-bound plane, with 239 passengers and crew on board, went missing hours after it took off from Kuala Lumpur.

More than 100 family members of passengers swarmed to the Lido Hotel after the authorities put up a notice online and at the airport instructing them to go to there.

A man whose mother was part of a travel group for the elderly spoke of his anguish after he rushed to the Malaysia Airlines office at the airport in the morning and was made to wait two hours before being asked to go to the hotel. At the time of writing, he said nobody from the airline had spoken to him.

Some passengers became emotional and demanded to meet “people in charge”, asking for arrangements to be made to go to Vietnam, but the only response they say they received from hotel staff was to go back to their rooms.

A woman cries as she walks out of the reception center and holding area for family and friend of passengers aboard a missing Malaysia Airlines plane, at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang. Photo: AP

Zhai Le was waiting for her friends, a couple who were on their way back to the Chinese capital on the flight, the Associated Press reported. She said she was very concerned because she hadn’t been able to reach them.

In Kuala Lumpur, family members gathered at the airport but were kept away from reporters.

Distraught relatives trickled in to a designated waiting area for loved ones, escorted by authorities.

“They gave us no information so far,” complained one man, who said his niece and her husband were on the flight for a one-week holiday in China.

CEO of Malaysia Airlines Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said earlier that the passengers’ and crew members’ next of kin were being informed of the incident.

"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," he said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with all affected passengers and crew and their family members."

THE AGONISING WAIT FOR NEWS

12.41am: Flight 370 takes off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing

2.40am: Boeing 777-200ER loses contact with Subang air traffic control, Malaysia Airlines says

6.30am: Flight 370 expected to land at Beijing Capital International Airport

7.24am: Malaysia Airlines issues statement saying it lost contact with flight

8.30am: Flight 370’s fuel would have run out, airline says

12.00pm: Vietnamese officials deny local media reports a signal has been picked up from Flight 370 near Cape Ca Mau.

12.37pm: Vietnamese media quotes Navy Admiral Ngo Van Phat as saying plane crashed 246 kilometres south of Phu Quoc Island.

2.10pm: Spokeswoman for Malaysia Airlines denies to the Post Vietnamese crash reports.

YouMakeMyDreams · Mar 9, 2014

'By the Grace of God we missed our flight' on Malaysia Airlines plane, tweets traveller

'I'm sorry to worry people'

PUBLISHED : Saturday, 08 March, 2014, 5:32pm
UPDATED : Saturday, 08 March, 2014, 5:35pm

Amy Li [email protected]

People walk under a Malaysia Airlines sign at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang. Photo: Reuters

A US traveller who said he was supposed to be on board vanished Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 tweeted on Saturday that he and his companion had missed the plane after being delayed due to a personal matter.

“By the Grace of God we missed our flight to China. I am okay, as is Rory, my companion. I'm sorry to worry people,” wrote blogger “Kaiden IV”.

“I was very angry at Ria, because she'd gotten sick and I had to cover her. I was working on that, missed my flight to China. Grew angrier,” "Kaiden IV" wrote on Twitter.

“Thank you God. Help me to learn, then live the lessons you need me to. Amen,” he tweeted later.

Kaiden IV's Twitter profile describes him as “CEO, Fiance, Son, Brother, Father, Uncle, Friend, Painter, Philanthropist” from “Pacific Northwest, USA.”

"Kaiden IV" didn't respond to an inquiry sent by the South China Morning Post on Saturday.

Flight MH370 lost contact with air traffic controllers near Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam at around 2.40am local time, hours after taking off from Kuala Lumpur. No distress signal was relayed before the aircraft disappeared.

There were 153 Chinese nationals on board, including one infant, an airline representative said at a press conference on Saturday morning.

Dozens of relatives were on Saturday taken from Beijing airport to a nearby hotel where they were anxiously awaiting news of the aircraft's fate.

Malaysia Airlines CEO, Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, said in a press conference Saturday that the company was "deeply saddened" by news of the disappearance.

A Malaysia Airlines spokesman told the South China Morning Post on Saturday that representatives were contacting the next of kin of passengers and crew members.

YouMakeMyDreams · Mar 9, 2014

Stolen passports were used to buy two tickets for Malaysia Airlines missing flight

Airline refuses to rule out terrorism

PUBLISHED : Saturday, 08 March, 2014, 11:56pm
UPDATED : Sunday, 09 March, 2014, 12:44am

Associated Press

The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER that disappeared from air traffic control screens Saturday, taking off from Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport in France. Photo: AP

Two people named on a list of passengers on board missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 were not on the plane, but both had reported their passports stolen.

Foreign ministry officials in Rome and Vienna confirmed on Saturday night that the names of two nationals listed on the manifest of the flight matched those of passports reported stolen in Thailand.

Italian foreign ministry officials said that Luigi Maraldi, originally believed to have boarded the plane in Kuala Lumpur, was traveling in Thailand when the Beijing-bound flight took off at just after midnight on Friday.

He had reported his passport stolen last August, said a foreign ministry functionary, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Italian news agency ANSA says Maraldi called home after hearing reports that someone with his name was on the plane.

"He is alright, he is on vacation, on the beach," his mother told the Italian national TV broadcaster RAI.

Similarly, Austrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Weiss confirmed that a name listed on the manifest matches an Austrian passport reported stolen two years ago in Phuket, Thailand. Weiss would not confirm the identity, although Britain's Daily Mirror website named him as Christian Kozel, aged 30.

The revelations will raise questions over security at Kuala Lumpur's airport, and how the stolen passports were able to be used by people other than their rightful owners.

At a press conference on Saturday evening an airline spokesman refused to rule out terrorism as a possible reason behind the very sudden disappearance of the flight.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak also refused to rule out a terrorist act.

China Southern, who jointly shared the route with Malaysian Airlines in what is termed in the industry a 'code share', said in a statement it had sold tickets to one Austrian and one Italian.

The airline confirmed it had sold seven tickets in all, including one to a Chinese passenger, one Dutch, 2 Ukranian and one Malaysian.

A total of 239 people were on board the flight when it vanished two hours after taking off from Kuala Lumpur. Twelve crew members and 227 passengers, aged two to 79 years, were named on a list of those on board released by the airline.

The Boeing 777-200ER gave air traffic controllers no indication of any problem before vanishing from radar screens.

An air search for survivors was called off on Saturday night and will resume at daylight.

Vietnamese officials said planes had spotted twin oil slicks in the sea and were sending boats to investigate.

YouMakeMyDreams · Mar 9, 2014

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370: Timeline and flight path of missing jet

Flight MH370 with 239 people on board vanished from radar on March 8 over the South China Sea near the Vietnam coastline. There were more than 150 Chinese nationals on board. Here, we chart the plane's journey from Kuala Lumpur.

PUBLISHED : Sunday, 09 March, 2014, 12:41am
UPDATED : Sunday, 09 March, 2014, 12:41am

YouMakeMyDreams · Mar 9, 2014

YouMakeMyDreams · Mar 9, 2014

YouMakeMyDreams · Mar 9, 2014

Video: Chilling moment Malaysian Airlines plane vanishes from live online flight tracker

Mar 08, 2014 16:32
By Steve Robson

Flight MH370 can be seen progressing towards the South China Sea before suddenly turning red and disappearing

<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/n-3YgFRpKUk?rel=0" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe>

This sinister video shows the moment a Malaysian Airlines passenger jet carrying 239 people vanished from a live online flight tracker.

The footage, taken on a mobile phone, shows flight MH370 leaving Kuala Lumpur and heading towards Vietnam.

But midway over the South China Sea, the plane turns red and suddenly disappears.

It has not been seen or heard from since.

An international investigation is underway to try and locate the plane but so far no wreckage has been found.

Vietnamese Navy officials have reported spotting two large oil slicks and a column of smoke off the the coast of the country.

They have sent ships to the site and are hoping to have further information this evening.

The flight took off at 12.41am local time on Saturday from Kuala Lumpur and was due to land in Beijing at 6.05am the same day.

But air traffic controllers lost communication with the plane shortly after it left Malaysia.

Two of the passengers on board were travelling on stolen Italian and Austrian passports, it has emerged.

Luigi Maraldi and Christian Kozel were thought to have been on the the plane, but have since been reported safe and well.

Investigators are not ruling out any explanation for the missing flight.

The Boeing 777-200 jet's passengers on the 2,746-mile journey totalled 239, including two infants and 12 crew members.

There were 14 different nationalities on board.

Malaysian Airways confirmed the plane had lost contact with Subang Air Traffic Control at 2.40am (SAT) local time - or 6.40pm (FRI) around 120 miles off Kota Bharu over the South China Sea.

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.

"The airline will provide regular updates on the situation."

A weather map of the area where the plane was last reported did not show any storm activity.

Well-wishers and worried relatives left almost 4,000 comments on the airline's Facebook page.

Brian Hong wrote: "Let's pray for the safety of the passengers & crew members."

A website had earlier listed the flight as landed, but this was before the airline's statement.

The operator has said it will provide regular updates via its Facebook page.

"We deeply regret that we have lost all contacts with flight MH370," the airline's chief executive officer Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said in a statement on Facebook.

"Malaysia Airlines is currently working with the authorities who have activated their Search and Rescue team to locate the aircraft," Yahya said.

"Our team is currently calling the next-of-kin of passengers and crew."

The plane did not enter Chinese air space and is thought to have lost contact over Vietnam.

Officials say there were 160 Chinese nationals on board and state TV reported that China had dispatched two maritime rescue ships to the South China Sea to help the search effort.

YouMakeMyDreams · Mar 9, 2014

U.S. Destroyer Joins Hunt For Vanished Malaysia Airlines Flight

Sam Frizell 10:16 AM ET

A woman in tears is helped by airport workers to a bus waiting for relatives of the missing Malaysian airliner at the international airport in Beijing, China, March 8, 2014. Ng Han Guan—AP

The United States has sent a destroyer to aid the international search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which vanished early Saturday with 239 aboard

Update 1:23 p.m. EST

The United States dispatched a destroyer to join the massive international search for the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 that went missing Saturday morning with 239 on board, as it appeared increasingly likely the plane had crashed into the ocean.

Air traffic controllers lost track of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH 370 shortly after it left Kuala Lumpur en route to Beijing, carrying 239 passengers and crew, half of which were Chinese nationals. Vietnam’s military said a search team discovered a 12-mile long oil slick in the Gulf of Thailand that may be the downed Boeing 777, but there had been no official confirmation the plane had crashed as of Saturday night.

Search crews from China, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia were joined by the American Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer destroyer in a search for any evidence of the airliner in the South China Sea. The passengers included 154 citizens from China or Taiwan, 38 Malaysians, seven Indonesians, six Australians, five Indians, four French and three Americans, among others.

“At this time, we can confirm that three U.S. citizens were on board,” said State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki. “Officials from the U.S. Embassies in Kuala Lumpur and Beijing are in contact with the individuals’ families. Out of respect for them, we are not providing additional information at this time.”

It emerged Saturday that two of the names on the flight manifest matched stolen European passports. Italian and Austrian officials confirmed the names of two passengers were from passports reported stolen in Thailand. U.S. officials told NBC News that they have not ruled out a terrorist attack as a possible cause for the plane’s disappearance.

The U.S. destroyer was conducting training and maritime security operations in international waters of the South China Sea, said the navy, and the ship has two MH-60R helicopters equipped for search and rescue. Vietnamese ships are expected to beat the destroyer to the scene.

The flight’s pilots were veterans who together had logged more than 20,000 flying hours, reports CNN. The plane was meant to touch down in Beijing at 6:30a.m. after a 2,300-mile trip. But the flight suddenly lost contact mid-flight, and search teams and experts have begun to lose hope passengers will be rescued.

“The aircraft had not been at altitude long and that strikes me as very, very odd,” aviation expert Captain J.F. Joseph, who has 44 years flying of experience, told TIME on Saturday. “It’s too early to say if there was a bomb or terrorist activity, but it lost contact just as it began to level off at 35,000 ft. It would give some indication that what occurred was catastrophic or somewhat instantaneous.”

With additional reporting by Zeke J. Miller

YouMakeMyDreams · Mar 9, 2014

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia_Airlines_Flight_370

Malaysian flight with 239 people aboard missing, including 153 Chinese nationals

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