Malaysia Airlines jet missing, 239 on board
Associated Press | March 7, 2014 8:28 PM ET
Malaysia Airlines said it had lost contact with a plane carrying 239 people — including two Canadians — on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing and search and rescue teams were trying to locate the aircraft.
The red-eye flight, a Boeing 777-200 operating as Flight MH370, took off at 12:41 a.m. local time Saturday. Air traffic control in Subang, a suburb of Kuala Lumpur, lost contact with the plane almost two hours later, at 2:40 a.m. The airline did not say where the plane was at that time.
According to China’s state news agency, the plane lost communication over Vietnam with air control in Ho Chi Minh City at 1:20 a.m. The radar signal also was lost, Xinhua reported.
“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 flight was expected to land in Beijing at 6:30 a.m. local time Saturday, a 3,700-kilometre trip. China and Malaysia are in the same time zone.
At the time of its disappearance, the plane was carrying about 7.5 hours of fuel, Mr. Sharuji told CNN.
The plane was carrying 227 passengers, including two infants, and 12 crew members, the airline said. It said two were Canadian, but provided no other details.
Passengers are from 13 countries, it said. At least 158 passengers were Chinese, according to Xinhua.
The airline said it was working with authorities who activated their search and rescue team to locate the aircraft. The route would take the aircraft from Malaysia across to Vietnam and China.
“We deeply regret that we have lost all contacts with Flight MH370,” said Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, chief executive officer of Malaysian Airline System.
“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,” Mr. Yahya said in the statement.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with all affected passengers and crew and their family members,” he added.
Malaysia Airlines has 15 Boeing 777-200 jets in its fleet of about 100 planes. The state-owned carrier last month reported its fourth straight quarterly loss.
The 777 had not had a fatal crash in its 20 year history until the Asiana crash in San Francisco in July 2013.
“We’re closely monitoring reports on Malaysia flight MH370,” Chicago-based Boeing said on its Twitter feed. “Our thoughts are with everyone on board.”
Retired American Airlines Capt. Jim Tilmon told CNN’s AC360 that the plane is “about as sophisticated as any commercial airplane could possibly be,” and has an excellent safety record.
He said the route is mostly overland, which means that there would be plenty of antennae, radar and radios to contact the plane.
“I’ve been trying to come up with every scenario that I could just to explain this away, but I haven’t been very successful,” Capt. Tilmon told CNN.
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