The missing Malaysia Airliner carrying 229 people crashed

A missing Malaysia Airliner carrying 229 people crashed
off the southern coast of Vietnam, Vietnamese and Chinese state
media reported Saturday, both citing Vietnam’s military.
But Malaysia has no information that any wreckage has been found of
the missing plane and no confirmation of a crash, acting transport
minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein told journalists
Saturday.
The reports came hours after Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370,
traveling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, disappeared.
Air traffic controllers lost contact with the aircraft about 2:40 a.m.
local time (1:40 p.m. ET Friday), Malaysia Airlines Vice
President of Operations Control Fuad Sharuji said on CNN’s
“AC360.”
“At the moment we have no idea where this aircraft is right now,”
Sharuji said.
Tuoi Tre, a leading daily in Vietnam, reported that the Vietnamese
navy confirmed the plane crashed into the ocean. According to navy
Adm. Ngo Van Phat, a regional commander, military radar
recorded that the plane crashed into the sea south of Phu Quoc island.
The People’s Daily, Chinese Communist Party’s official newspaper,
reported the same information.
China deployed two rescue ships to the South China Sea on
Saturday as the search intensified, state-run broadcaster CCTV
said.
Family and friends of many of the 154 Chinese nationals on board
gathered at a hotel complex in the Lido district of Beijing. A large
group of reporters gathered outside.
“My son was only 40 years old,” one woman wailed as she was led
inside. “My son, my son — what am I going to do?”
The Ministry of Transportation in Malaysia said 80% of family
members of those onboard had been contacted.
The Boeing 777-200 departed Kuala Lumpur International Airport
at 12:41 a.m. and was expected to land in Beijing at 6:30 a.m., a
2,300-mile (3,700 kilometer) trip. It was carrying 227 passengers,
two of them infants, and 12 crew members, the airline said. Air traffic
control in Subang, in Malaysia, had last contact with the plane.
If this aircraft has crashed with a total loss, it would the deadliest
aviation incident since November 2001 when an American Airlines
Airbus A300 crashed in Belle Harbor, Queens, shortly after takeoff
from JFK Airport. Killed were 265 people, including five people on
the ground.
At the time of its disappearance, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370
was carrying about 7.5 hours of fuel, Sharuji said.
The passengers are of 13 nationalities, the airline said. Nationalities
and the number for each of passengers on the flight were:
— China and Taiwan,154
— Malaysia, 38
— Indonesia, 12
— Australia, 7
— United States, 4
— France, 3
— New Zealand, 2
— Ukraine, 2
— Canada, 2
— Russia, 1
— Italy, 1
— Netherlands, 1
— Austria, 1
One infant from the United States and another from China were
included in the tally.
By CNN’s math, that adds up to 228 passengers, one more than the
total cited by the airline. There was no immediate explanation offered
for the apparent discrepancy.
Malaysia Airlines said it was working with the authorities who have
activated their search and rescue team to locate the aircraft. The
airline said the public can call +603 7884 1234 for further information.
The airline’s website said the flight was piloted by Cap. Zaharie
Ahmad Shah, 53, a Malaysian. He has 18,365 total flying hours and
joined Malaysia Airlines in 1981, the website said. The first officer is
Fariq Ab.Hamid, 27, a Malaysian with a total of 2,763 flying hours.
He joined Malaysia Airlines in 2007.
China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency said the flight lost contact
and its radar signal as it was flying over the Ho Chi Minh air traffic
control area in Vietnam.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang ordered authorities to start emergency
measures to strengthen communications with Malaysian authorities,
and called for boosting search and rescue efforts as well as verifying
details of the Chinese passengers aboard, China’s government website
reported.
China’s embassy in Malaysia has formed an emergency team headed by
the Chinese ambassador to deal with the incident, it said.
“We’re closely monitoring reports on Malaysia flight MH370,”
Boeing said in a tweet. “Our thoughts are with everyone on board.”
“It doesn’t sound very good,” retired American Airlines Capt. Jim
Tilmon told CNN’s “AC360.” He noted that 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.”
He said the plane is “about as sophisticated as any commercial
airplane could possibly be,” with an excellent safety record.
“The lack of communications suggests to me that something most
unfortunate has happened,” said Mary Schiavo, former inspector
general of the U.S. Department of Transportation, in an interview
with CNN International. “But that, of course, does not mean that
there are not many persons that need to be rescued and secured.
There’s still a very urgent need to find that plane and to render aid.”
There is one recent blemish for the Boeing jet: An Asiana Airlines
Boeing 777 carrying 291 passengers struck a seawall at San
Francisco International Airport in July 2013, killing three people
and wounding dozens more.
Malaysia Airlines operates in Southeast Asia, East Asia, South
Asia, the Middle East and on the route between Europe and
Australasia.
It has 15 of the Boeing 777-200 planes in its fleet, CNN’s Richard
Quest reported.
Part of the company is in the private sector, but the government owns
most of it.
Malayan Airways Limited began flying in 1937 as an air service
between Penang and Singapore. A decade later, it began flying
commercially as the national airline.
In 1963, when Malaysia was formed, the airline was renamed
Malaysian Airlines Limited.
Within 20 years, it had grown from a single aircraft operator into a
company with 2,400 employees and a fleet operator.

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