Malaysia Airlines Plane, Flight MH370, Loses Contact With Air Traffic Control

Huffington Post

A Malaysia Airlines flight carrying 239 people lost contact with air traffic control early Saturday morning (local time). Flight MH370 is a B777-200 aircraft heading to Beijing, China from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

According to a press statement provided by Malaysia Airlines, the flight lost contact with Subang Air Traffic Control at 2:40 a.m. local time Saturday (6:40 p.m. GMT Friday).  

The flight departed Kuala Lumpur at 12:41 a.m. on Saturday (4:41 p.m. GMT Friday), and was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members. The passengers were comprised of 14 different nationalities, and 2 were infants.

A Search and Rescue team has been activated, and the Malaysia Airlines team is calling next-of-kin. Malaysia Airlines provided the following number to contact for more information: +603 7884 1234.

The Associated Press reports that communication with the plane was lost over Vietnam, according to China’s state news agency Xinhua.

AP story continues below:

At Beijing’s airport, 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 hadn’t been able to reach them.Airport authorites posted a written notice asking relatives and friends of passengers to gather to a hotel about 30 minutes drive from the airport to wait for further information, and provided a shuttle bus service.

Another woman wept aboard the shuttle bus while talking by mobile phone, ” They want us to go to the hotel. It cannot be good!”

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. All 16 crew members survived, but thee of the 291 passengers, all teenage girls from China, were killed.

Boeing Commercial Airplanes issued the following statement on Twitter:

Malaysia Airlines posted the following list of where passengers are from:

1. China – 152 plus 1 infant 2. Malaysia – 38 3. Indonesia – 12 4. Australia – 7 5. France – 3 6. United States of America – 3 pax plus 1 infant 7. New Zealand – 2 8. Ukraine – 2 9. Canada – 2 10. Russia – 1 11. Italy – 1 12. Taiwan – 1 13. Netherlands – 1 14. Austria – 1

Malaysia Airlines posted the following pilot information on their Facebook page:

The flight was piloted by Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, a Malaysian aged 53. He has a total flying hours of 18,365 hours. He joined Malaysia Airlines in 1981.

First officer, Fariq Ab.Hamid, a Malaysian, is aged 27. He has a total flying hours of 2,763 hours. He joined Malaysia Airlines in 2007.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/07/malaysian-airlines-plane-_n_4922705.html

5 thoughts on “Malaysia Airlines Plane, Flight MH370, Loses Contact With Air Traffic Control”

    1. They haven’t found it yet. Last night, Viet Nam said they found a beacon and that it “may” have crashed at sea. This morning an oil slick was spotted off the coast of the Philipines. However, they still don’t know what caused it.

      Reply

  2. I’m not being uncompassionate… but I want to see the passenger manifest. It is not beneath the CIA or any other Country’s Intelligence Agency to take-out an entire plane of passengers in order to kill one individual target.

    Reply

    1. Haven’t seen a full list, yet. Names here and there from countries listing their own missing. It was reported that 2 passengers were using stolen passports.

      Reply

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