Malaysia Airlines flight carrying 239
people from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing
disappeared Saturday after air traffic
controllers lost contact with the plane,
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.
“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.
“We deeply regret that we have lost all
contacts” with the jet, said CEO Ahmad
Juahari Yahya in a statement.
Efforts to contact the plane in the hours
after it disappeared were fruitless. China
deployed two rescue ships in the South
China Sea to begin a search, state-run
broadcaster CCTV said.
Family and friends of those missing on
the flight gathered at a hotel complex in
the Lido district of Beijing. People were
being led in through a throng of
reporters, with those friends and
relatives saying nothing to the media.
One woman had her hand to her face. As
the door opened, a man inside looked
anxious as he talked on a cell phone.
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.
China’s embassy in Malaysia 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.
CNN.
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