Malaysia Airlines lost contact with flight with 227 passengers

[Austincool]

Malaysia Airlines loses contact with passenger jet - CNN.com

I hope this isn't what I'm thinking.

[munna21977]

Flight MH 370, operating a Boeing B777-200 aircraft carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew lost contact with air traffic controllers early on Saturday en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. About 160 Chinese Nationals were on the plane.
The airline said the flight had lost contact with Malaysian air traffic controllers at 2.40 a.m., just over two hours into the flight. I guess somewhere in the sea near Vietnam as it didnt enter Chinese airspace.

[BigDGeek]

Not looking good. Prayers for the passengers, crew, and their families.

[iNviNciBL3]

Originally Posted by Austincool

Malaysia Airlines loses contact with passenger jet - CNN.com

I hope this isn't what I'm thinking.

Mhm... hopefully just a minor glitch and they will arrive to Beijing safely

[-Lamb]

[#MASalert] Statement By Our Group CEO, Ahmad Jauhari Yahya on MH370 Incident at the Press Conference. Released at 11.00am/8 Mar 2014 MY Local Time

Ladies and Gentlemen, we are deeply saddened this morning with the news on MH370.

Malaysia Airlines confirms that flight MH370 had lost contact with Subang Air Traffic Control at 2.40am, today.

There has been speculation that the aircraft has landed at Nanming.

We are working to verify the authenticity of the report and others.

Flight MH370 was operated on a Boeing 777-200 aircraft.

It departed Kuala Lumpur at 12.41 am earlier this morning bound for Beijing.

The aircraft was scheduled to land at Beijing International Airport at 6.30am local Beijing time.

The flight was carrying a total number of 239 passengers and crew – comprising 227 passengers (including 2 infants), 12 crew members.

The passengers were of 14 different nationalities - citizens from:-

15. China – 152 plus 1 infant
16. Malaysia - 38
17. Indonesia - 12
18. Australia - 7
19. France - 3
20. United States of America – 3 pax plus 1 infant
21. New Zealand - 2
22. Ukraine - 2
23. Canada - 2
24. Russia - 1
25. Italy - 1
26. Taiwan - 1
27. Netherlands - 1
28. Austria - 1

This flight was a code share with China Southern Airlines.

We are working with authorities who have activated their Search and Rescue team to locate the aircraft.

Our team is currently calling the next-of-kin of passengers and crew.

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

Our focus now is to work with the emergency responders and authorities and mobilize its full support.

Our thoughts and prayers are with all affected passengers and crew and their family members.

The airline will provide regular updates on the situation. The public may contact +603 7884 1234. For media queries, kindly contact +603 8777 5698/ +603 8787 1276.

Please also log on to Welcome to Malaysia Airlines - Experience Award-Winning Malaysian Hospitality | Malaysia Airlines for updates.



This doesnt look good at all...

[Comp625]

Here's an article I found that suggests that the plane may have landed in Nanming, further supporting the rumor listed in -Lamb's post.

(UPDATED) MAS KL-Beijing Flight MH370

I sure hope this rumor turns out to be true. Other explanations (i.e. someone on another forum said "decomposition mid-air") seem unlikely since there's no explosion, debris, etc. My concern is that the rumor has been afloat for about 30-45 minutes as of this writing -- wouldn't the news have confirmed it by now if this were true?

[Madeline2121]

My prayers to the passengers and their loved ones. How strange that they just lost contact. I guess they didn't have them on radar. I hope it turns out that they have landed safely.

[Comp625]

Flightrader24.com's Twitter Account reported that the plane was last reported about 150km east of its course.

https://twitter.com/flightradar24/st...289856/photo/1

Can this mean potential hijacking?

I also don't believe the "ran out of fuel" explanation. IF it ran out of fuel, the flight would have sent a distress signal and/or we would have seen an explosion from the crash. Furthermore, a pilot with 18k miles and co-pilot with 3k hours wouldn't accidentally forget to check the fuel gauge.

Meanwhile, Yahoo Singapore's Twitter account is reporting a crash near its Phu Quoc island.

https://twitter.com/YahooSG/status/442159795101908992

[Bettafish]

I think it is a terrorist attack.
Just a few days ago 29 people were killed in China. Malaysia is a Muslim country and there could be some terrorists hiding.

[Comp625]

Originally Posted by Bettafish

I think it is a terrorist attack.
Just a few days ago 29 people were killed in China. Malaysia is a Muslim country and there could be some terrorists hiding.

That exact thought ran through my mind, as well.

Nevertheless, while the Vietnam Navy reported the crash on their radars, no one has found any actual wreckage.