Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 missing!

Malaysia Airlines hunts for missing plane carrying 239

by Julia ZAPPEI

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."

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.

Source : Sapa-AFP /mjs
Date : 08 Mar 2014 05:17
 
Not sounding good. To rehash a old conversation/thread on myBB, it's hard to believe with modern technology, we can still "lose" planes. That was the Brazil lost airline thread.
 
Apparently it crashed into the sea near Vietnam.

http://my.news.yahoo.com/mas-aircraft-goes-missing--says-airline-023820132.html

UPDATE [12:37]: Tuoi Tre, a leading daily in Vietnam, reports that the Vietnamese Navy has confirmed the plane crashed into the ocean. According to Navy Admiral Ngo Van Phat, Commander of the Region 5, military radar recorded that the plane crashed into the sea at a location 153 miles South of Phu Quoc island.
Click to expand...

Lets hope there are survivors.
 
TEARS AND FURY AS RELATIVES WAIT FOR NEWS OF AIRLINER

Tearful and angry, the friends and relatives of passengers on board missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 lashed out at the company Saturday as journalists besieged them in a Beijing hotel.

Many were taken there by the airline after going to the Chinese capital's airport to meet the flight, scheduled to land at around 6:30am.

A press conference was expected at the same location, and when others arrived later, they had to run the gauntlet of scores of Chinese and international reporters shoving microphones and cameras in their faces.

"They should have told us something before now," said one visibly distressed man in his 30s, from the Chinese city of Tianjin.

A man in his 20s struggled to help a grieving older woman, possibly his mother, into a quiet room as journalists shouted questions at her.

"They are useless," he said of the airline. "I don't know why they haven't released any information. We waited for four hours and all they told us was the very few details they released at the media conference."

Fighting back tears, a 20-year-old woman who had gone to the airport to meet a college friend said the passenger's family still had not been told by the airline she was on board.

According to Malaysia Airlines, 153 of the 239 people on board the missing flight -- a codeshare with China Southern Airlines -- are Chinese citizens.

Scores of family members spoke to airline officials in small groups in a room on the hotel's second floor.

Security at times struggled to hold back the huge throng of reporters crowding outside the door and making it difficult for relatives to enter or exit.

One woman in her twenties entered the room frantically crying, ignoring questions from the horde.

A man in his 60s wiped tears from his eyes with a handkerchief as he entered the room. He hit a cameraman in the face who tried to film him as he walked by, as a security guard shouted "Don't you all have families?"


Source : Sapa-AFP /mr
Date : 08 Mar 2014 10:51
 
MALAYSIA SAYS PRESSING VIETNAM FOR DETAILS ON MISSING PLANE

Malaysia's transport minister said Saturday the government currently had "no information" or confirmation that a missing Malaysian airliner had crashed, but was urgently asking Vietnam for details.

Air traffic controllers in the region lost contact with the Malaysian Airlines plane, with 239 people aboard, early on Saturday, triggering a search in the South China Sea involving several nations.

Vietnam's government has said that the aircraft, which was en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, was near its airspace when it lost contact.

A Vietnamese state media report later quoted a naval official saying the Boeing 777-200 had crashed off southern Vietnam.

Malaysian Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said he has not been able to confirm that report with Vietnamese civil aviation authorities.

"But since that information came from the Vietnamese navy, I have asked our navy to contact their counterparts immediately," he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur.

"At the moment we have no information of any wreckage at sea. I can confirm that we have not yet found the location of the plane."

Malaysia, Vietnam, China, and the Philippines have dispatched planes and aircraft to the South China Sea to search for the missing plane.


Source : Sapa-AFP /mr
Date : 08 Mar 2014 10:53
 
BOEING 777 PLANE HAD STRONG SAFETY RECORD

The Malaysia Airlines plane that went missing Saturday on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing was a Boeing 777, a model which up to now has seen only one fatal crash.

The popular family of long-range, wide body, twin-engined planes have a solid safety record and have been among the world's most widely-flown passenger jets since first entering service in 1995.

The planes are often used in flights of 12 hours or longer, across wide stretches of ocean from one continent to another, and have largely replaced the older Boeing 747 models.

In the sole fatal crash involving the planes, a Boeing 777-200 operated by South Korea's Asiana Airlines skidded off the runway upon landing at San Francisco's international airport in July 2013.

The plane had clipped a seawall before touching down. Three people died in the incident, including a teenage Chinese girl who survived the crash but was run over by a rescue vehicle as she lay motionless on the runway.

A final US report on the crash is expected by the first anniversary of the disaster. At the time, however, Asiana chief executive Yoon Young-Doo said he understood there were "no engine or mechanical problems" with the aircraft.

In the days after the crash aviation experts publicly praised the Boeing 777's safety features for preventing further loss of life.

The Boeing 777 has been involved in only one other fatal accident, which occurred after a plane had landed.

In 2001, a British Airways flight touched down in Denver and passengers had begun disembarking when a hose that was being used to refuel the plane detached, spraying fuel around the area.

The fuel mist ignited, engulfing the area in flames. Fire trucks arrived two minutes later, but the refueller suffered fatal injuries in the incident.

The only previous major incident involving a Boeing 777 was a crash at London's Heathrow airport in January, 2008.

All those on board the British Airways flight survived, and a later investigation confirmed the crash was caused by ice forming in the fuel system. Changes were soon after made to the fuel system.

The Malaysia Airlines flight which lost contact with authorities Saturday was a Boeing 777-200.

The model, the oldest in the Boeing 777 family, has a range of 5,240 nautical miles (9,700 kilometres), according to the Boeing website. Its typical cruising speed at 35,000 feet is Mach 0.84.

Boeing 777s are used on long distance routes around the world, such as London-New York and Tokyo-San Francisco.

Saturday's incident came a day after Boeing reported further problems with its troubled Dreamliner 787 aircraft.

Hairline cracks had been found in the wings of some Dreamliners still in production, a spokesman for the Chicago-based aerospace giant told AFP.

It was the latest in a series of problems that have beset the high-tech 787 put into service two years ago, including a months-long global grounding over battery problems last year.

Boeing said Saturday it was "closely monitoring" reports on the missing Malaysia Airlines flight.

"Our thoughts are with everyone on board," the company said in a statement via Twitter.


Source : Sapa-AFP /mr
Date : 08 Mar 2014 10:58
 
Malaysia Airlines Plane 'Crashes In Vietnam' 239 people on board

http://news.sky.com/story/1222674/malaysia-airlines-plane-crashes-in-vietnam

A Malaysia Airlines plane with 239 people on board has crashed into the sea after losing contact with air traffic control 16 hours ago, say reports.

The Boeing 777-200 was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing when it vanished around two hours into the flight.

Vietnamese state media quoted a navy official as saying Flight MH370 crashed near Tho Chu island, off Vietnam's south coast, at around 2.40am local time.

All ships in the local area have been sent to the scene to look for survivors.
 
It might have crashed closer to Malaysia than to Vietnam.

This probably explains why Vietnamese authorities are dragging their feet.
 
Last known position was 065515 North and 1033443 East, half way between Kota Bahru in Malaysia and Vietnam.

Malaysia has several helicopters and C-130s looking for it. Looks like Malaysia is putting in more of an effort than Vietnam since they have far more extensive combat search and rescue resources.
 
Garyvdh said:
BOEING 777 PLANE HAD STRONG SAFETY RECORD

The Malaysia Airlines plane that went missing Saturday on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing was a Boeing 777, a model which up to now has seen only one fatal crash.

The popular family of long-range, wide body, twin-engined planes have a solid safety record and have been among the world's most widely-flown passenger jets since first entering service in 1995.

The planes are often used in flights of 12 hours or longer, across wide stretches of ocean from one continent to another, and have largely replaced the older Boeing 747 models.

In the sole fatal crash involving the planes, a Boeing 777-200 operated by South Korea's Asiana Airlines skidded off the runway upon landing at San Francisco's international airport in July 2013.

The plane had clipped a seawall before touching down. Three people died in the incident, including a teenage Chinese girl who survived the crash but was run over by a rescue vehicle as she lay motionless on the runway.

A final US report on the crash is expected by the first anniversary of the disaster. At the time, however, Asiana chief executive Yoon Young-Doo said he understood there were "no engine or mechanical problems" with the aircraft.

In the days after the crash aviation experts publicly praised the Boeing 777's safety features for preventing further loss of life.

The Boeing 777 has been involved in only one other fatal accident, which occurred after a plane had landed.

In 2001, a British Airways flight touched down in Denver and passengers had begun disembarking when a hose that was being used to refuel the plane detached, spraying fuel around the area.

The fuel mist ignited, engulfing the area in flames. Fire trucks arrived two minutes later, but the refueller suffered fatal injuries in the incident.

The only previous major incident involving a Boeing 777 was a crash at London's Heathrow airport in January, 2008.

All those on board the British Airways flight survived, and a later investigation confirmed the crash was caused by ice forming in the fuel system. Changes were soon after made to the fuel system.

The Malaysia Airlines flight which lost contact with authorities Saturday was a Boeing 777-200.

The model, the oldest in the Boeing 777 family, has a range of 5,240 nautical miles (9,700 kilometres), according to the Boeing website. Its typical cruising speed at 35,000 feet is Mach 0.84.

Boeing 777s are used on long distance routes around the world, such as London-New York and Tokyo-San Francisco.

Saturday's incident came a day after Boeing reported further problems with its troubled Dreamliner 787 aircraft.

Hairline cracks had been found in the wings of some Dreamliners still in production, a spokesman for the Chicago-based aerospace giant told AFP.

It was the latest in a series of problems that have beset the high-tech 787 put into service two years ago, including a months-long global grounding over battery problems last year.

Boeing said Saturday it was "closely monitoring" reports on the missing Malaysia Airlines flight.

"Our thoughts are with everyone on board," the company said in a statement via Twitter.


Source : Sapa-AFP /mr
Date : 08 Mar 2014 10:58
Click to expand...

Eish, was on a 777-200 on Tuesday. Certainly makes you think.

Sad news indeed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X