Malaysia to China plane missing (MH-370)

[ameriken]

Malaysia Airlines loses contact with jet carrying 239 people

 

By Tom Watkins and Chelsea J. Carter, CNN

updated 11:32 PM EST, Fri March 7, 2014

(CNN) -- A Malaysia Airlines flight carrying 239 people from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing disappeared Saturday after losing contact with air traffic controllers, the airline said.

"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."

Subang Air Traffic Control lost contact with Flight MH370 at about 2:40 a.m. local time (1:40 p.m. ET Friday), Sharuji said.

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/140307220115-map-malaysia-airlines-flight-missing-story-top.jpgMap: Malaysia airliner lost contact

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/140307212444-ngtv-malaysia-airlines-flight-route-story-body.jpgQuest: Odd to lose contact while cruising

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/140307201652-ac-bpr-aviation-expert-malaysia-airlines-lost-contact-00004208-story-body.jpgPlane loses contact with airline

"We tried to call this aircraft through various means," he said. The airline checked reports that the jet had landed in several places, but determined that none of the reports was true, he said.

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.

At the time of its disappearance, the plane was carrying about 7.5 hours of fuel, Sharuji said.

The passengers are of 13 nationalities, the airline said. They were from China and Taiwan (154), Malaysia (38), Indonesia (12), Australia (7), France (3), United States (4), 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.

"Malaysia Airlines is currently working with the authorities who have activated their Search and Rescue team to locate the aircraft," the statement said. The public can call +603 7884 1234 for further information.

Efforts to contact the plane were fruitless.

"We deeply regret that we have lost all contacts" with the jet, said CEO Ahmad Juahari Yahya in a statement.

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.

The airline said in a statement that its representatives were contacting the relatives of those aboard. "Focus of the airline is to work with the emergency responders and authorities and mobilize its full support," it said.

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.

Xinhua also reported that Chinese aviation authorities had confirmed that 160 Chinese nationals were aboard the plane, which was lost from radar in airspace controlled by Vietnam.

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.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/07/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-plane-missing/

[Randy W]

Vietnam rescue official says missing Malaysian plane's signal detected

 

 

A Vietnamese official of search and rescue said Saturday that the signal of the missing Malaysia Airlines plane has been detected, local media reported.

The official told local VNExpress that the signal of the plane with 227 passengers and 12 crew members on board has been detected at some 120 nautical miles southwest of Vietnam's southernmost Ca Mau province.

 

[Randy W]

Vietnam says missing Malaysian plane's signal detected

The official told local VNExpress that the signal of the plane carrying 239 people has been detected at some 120 nautical miles southwest of Vietnam's southernmost Ca Mau province.

Vietnam has ordered all its search centers to search for the plane, said the official.

Earlier, Vietnamese transport minister said the country agreed with Malaysian authorities to coordinate in search and rescue work.

 

[danb]

I was looking on the computer to see where Ca Mau province is. It is at the very southern tip of Vietnam. I saw another report on the internet just now that said that the earlier reports of a signal from the missing plane were false?

 

http://www.firstpost.com/world/no-signal-picked-up-from-missing-malaysia-airlines-plane-vietnam-1424587.html

 

A few hours ago i had read that possibility that the plane had landed in Nanning. That turned out to be false also. I was hoping that was true. A breaking story often has some twist and turns. I thought that planes' location were constantly tracked by ATC. I guess not. Also it happened about 11 hours ago which I think was about 2 in the morning local time. Let's hope there is a miracle and the passengers and the crew are all found alive in ocean. Danb

 

Randy I wonder if the Chinese media is all over this story?

[Randy W]

I was looking on the computer to see where Ca Mau province is. It is at the very southern tip of Vietnam. I saw another report on the internet just now that said that the earlier reports of a signal from the missing plane were false?

 

http://www.firstpost.com/world/no-signal-picked-up-from-missing-malaysia-airlines-plane-vietnam-1424587.html

 

A few hours ago i had read that possibility that the plane had landed in Nanning. That turned out to be false also. I was hoping that was true. A breaking story often has some twist and turns. I thought that planes' location were constantly tracked by ATC. I guess not. Also it happened about 11 hours ago which I think was about 2 in the morning local time. Let's hope there is a miracle and the passengers and the crew are all found alive in ocean. Danb

 

Randy I wonder if the Chinese media is all over this story?

 

There have been several reports in Xinhua. My wife brought the CCTV report to my attention, but they hadn't reported the signal thing yet.

 

I expect they're simply doing what they can to locate the aircraft, and not worrying too much about getting the media involved

 

Here's a report from 9 minutes ago

 

Malaysia Airlines plane crashes in South China Sea with 239 people aboard: report

 

I

f the report is confirmed, it would mark the U.S.-built airliner's deadliest crash since entering service 19 years ago.

Malaysia Airlines had yet to confirm that the aircraft had crashed. It said earlier in the day that no distress signal had been given and cited early speculation that the plane may have landed in Nanming in southern China.

Flight MH370, operating a Boeing 777-200ER aircraft, last had contact with air traffic controllers 120 nautical miles off the east coast of the Malaysian town of Kota Bharu, Malaysia Airlines chief executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said in a statement read to a news conference in Kuala Lumpur.

 

[Guest ExChinaExpat]

Vietnamese search aircraft has found two, narrowly-spaced oil slicks in the South China Sea and is working to verify if belongs to Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, according to a statement posted on the government’s web site. The 10-15km-long oil slicks spaced 500m apart were discovered 140km south of Tho Chu Island, which is located off the southwest coast of Vietnam, the statement says.

The observations were made with the “naked eye” of the search crews, the statement reports.Malaysia Airlines has not yet confirmed the possible sighting of debris belonging to MH370. The airline released a statement 18:40 in Malaysia in response to desperate public inquiries about the fate of the aircraft, which was reported missing more than 11h earlier. “We’re accelerating every effort with all relevant authorities to locate the aircraft,” the airline says.

The Boeing 777-200 with 239 passengers and crew departed Kuala Lumpur at 00:41 with a scheduled arrival in Beijing at 06:30.

http://www.flightglo...nes-777-396798/

[Guest ExChinaExpat]

This terrible crash will most likely be linked to terrorism, from the same murderers in Beijing, Kunming, Xinjiang....

[Randy W]

Apparently, a couple of stolen passports were in use - http://shanghaiist.com/2014/03/08/breaking_malaysia_airlines_flight_e.php

 

UPDATE (10:53pm): 37-year-old Italian national, Luigi Maraldi, earlier named on the manifest list of missing people, is confirmed alive in Thailand. He called his parents earlier today to say he was alive and well. Maraldi's passport was stolen in August last year and it appears that one of the passengers on board MH370 was using the stolen passport.

UPDATE (11:12pm): A second stolen passport, belonging to a 30-year-old Austrian by the name of Christian Kozel, may have been used by one of the passengers on board MH370. Kozel's passport was reportedly stolen when he was on vacation in Thailand two years ago. Austrian authorities have confirmed that he is alive and well.

 

[Thomas Promise]

3 Americans where on this plane. Terrible tradgedy.

Edited March 8, 2014 by Thomas Promise (see edit history)

[dan1984]

 

Apparently, a couple of stolen passports were in use - http://shanghaiist.com/2014/03/08/breaking_malaysia_airlines_flight_e.php

 

UPDATE (10:53pm): 37-year-old Italian national, Luigi Maraldi, earlier named on the manifest list of missing people, is confirmed alive in Thailand. He called his parents earlier today to say he was alive and well. Maraldi's passport was stolen in August last year and it appears that one of the passengers on board MH370 was using the stolen passport.

UPDATE (11:12pm): A second stolen passport, belonging to a 30-year-old Austrian by the name of Christian Kozel, may have been used by one of the passengers on board MH370. Kozel's passport was reportedly stolen when he was on vacation in Thailand two years ago. Austrian authorities have confirmed that he is alive and well.

 

 

 

Perhaps some that love conspiracy theories would find this as ample ammunition, but one of my friends from here in Beijing, a guy who is now studying in Chicago, his Aunt was on this flight, and his family is in a surreal type of dream currently.

 

Just so hard to fathom one of these birds flying in the sky and the next thing you know 240 lives are lost. Not that I know my friend's Aunt personally, but, anyone with a heart and compassion can feel it.......

 

I just got back on the computer and I don't know if there has been any updated info, but, here's to still hoping for the best..........

[chilton747]

This terrible crash will most likely be linked to terrorism, from the same murderers in Beijing, Kunming, Xinjiang....

These are my feelings as well.

[Randy W]

An update in the People's Daily (no new information about the plane)

 

Families to look for loved ones on board missing Malaysian flight

 

Malaysia Airlines is arranging the transport of families to the last known site of the missing flight MH370, requiring up to two relatives per passenger with passports to check in at Kuala Lumpur International Airport before 6 p.m. The destination does not appear to have been disclosed.

 

. . .

 

Malaysian transport authorities said no sign of any plane wreckage has been discovered and denied earlier media reports that the plane had crashed south of an island off Vietnam.

 

[griz326]

 

Guys with knives didn't bring down this plane POOF!

 

Somehow they must have gotten a large bomb on the plane.

That - or a missile - are the only way that I can imagine to make such a large plane go POOF!

 

 

What a shame to lose all of those lives.

[tsap seui]

Guys with knives didn't bring down this plane POOF!

 

Somehow they must have gotten a large bomb on the plane.

That - or a missile - are the only way that I can imagine to make such a large plane go POOF!

 

 

What a shame to lose all of those lives.

Amen. It is so rare that a plane just falls out of the sky on it's own, with no time to even get off a mayday call???? Oh yeah, it can and does happen.

 

Not that I'm jumping on any terrorist conspiracy story bandwagons, or doing like some of my friends and making conjecture or jumping to any conclusions either. We'll have enough speculation in the press. I'm gonna wait and see what the facts reveal.

 

If it looks like "shit" I like to stand back out of sniff or taste range, trust my instincts, and let the evidence reveal the truth.

 

Sad to see so many lose their lives over whatever the reason that brought this jumbo jet down.

 

tsap seui

I'm stickin' with United...yeah, I know, the broads are ugly and old and the food ain't as cool as the exotic airlines.

[ameriken]

This just in....

 

Air Force Chief: Malaysia Jet May Have Turned Back

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia March 9, 2014 (AP)

By EILEEN NG and CHRIS BRUMMITT Associated Press

International intelligence agencies joined the investigation Sunday into the two passengers who boarded the missing Boeing 777 jetliner with stolen passports, as Malaysian authorities revealed that radar images showed the plane may have turned back before vanishing.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/oil-slicks-offer-sign-malaysian-jet-crashed-22834938