Malaysia Airlines Flight Missing 2014: What Happened To The Plane?
Some hours into its flight, a plane loses contact with air traffic control over the Gulf of Thailand. These recent news are still developing. According to BBC News, the flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Beijing lost contact shortly after take off and was dropped from radar while flying over the sea.
According to a statement released by the airline, the Boeing 777-200 lost contact from Subang Air Traffic control in Malaysia shortly after 2:40 a.m. The plane was carrying a crew of 12 and 227 passengers (including two infants). The passengers are from 13 different nationalities. They continued to explain, "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."
The Chinese Xinhua state news agency reported that the plan was lost in Vietnam's airspace. The Boeing did not enter Chinese airspace or contacted Chinese controllers.
Malaysia Airlines has stated that it will hold a press conference later on Saturday, their time. The reporting statement also gave important numbers for those interested or affected to contact. The public may contact +603 7884 1234. For media queries, kindly contact +603 8777 5698/ +603 8787 1276. Next-of-kin may head to the Support Facility Building at KLIA's South Support Zone. For directions, call 03 8787 1269.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the Boeing 777 missing had been in an incident in August of 2012, when it clipped the tail of a China Eastern Airlines plane. The tip of the Boeing's wings broke off. Malaysia Airlines is the national carrier of Malaysia. It flies nearly 37,000 passengers to over 80 destinations worldwide.
Update 1: According to the vice president of the airlines, Flight MH370 did not make any distress calls or report any problems before losing touch at 35,000 feet.
Malaysia Airlines VP tells CNN no distress call or problems reported from MH370 before disappearance, plane was at 35K ft
— Jon Passantino (@passantino) March 8, 2014
Update 2: Wall Street Journal tweets that 138 passengers were Chinese nationals, 38 Malaysians, and 12 Indonesians.
Breaking: Malaysia Airlines CEO says missing plane has 153 Chinese, 38 Malaysians and 12 Indonesians aboard. https://t.co/gIdYzxu3BV
— Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) March 8, 2014
Update 3: Reuters is reporting that Vietnamese air controllers never picked up a signal from the missing plane, contrary to statements from Chinese media.
Update 4: Four Americans, including one infant, among the passengers, according to the airline's last statement.