MAS plane missing, feared crashed near Vietnam

Malaysia Airlines said Malaysian and Chinese authorities are still confirming speculation that flight MH370, that went missing this morning, has landed in an airport purportedly in China.

"This is speculation we have to confirm. The authorities are working hard to confirm, both the Malaysian and Chinese authorities. There has been no confirmation," MAS CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya told media.

MH370, which departed from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 12.40 this morning en route to Beijing, went off the radar at 2.40am.

Amidst a flurry of news, some posted on the Internet that it has landed in a certain "Naning Airport" purportedly in China.

MAS also told Malaysiakini that it is still confirming information that Vietnamese authorities have received the plane's beacon signal off the coast of Vietnam, as reported by Chinese newswire Xinhua.

However Reuters has subsequently reported that Vietnamese search officials have denied news.

Last heard off Kota Bharu

Speaking at a press conference this morning, Ahmad Jauhari said that authorities have also contacted Vietnamese authorities as the Boeing 777-200 aircraft plane is believed to have lost contact while at the Vietnamese-Malaysian airspace border.

He said the flight was supposed to arrive in Beijing at 6.30am.

However, the last position reported by the pilot was approximately 120 nautical miles off the coast of Kota Bharu.

"It was the east of Kota Bharu around the South China Sea," he said, noting that search and rescue efforts are being concentrated there.

He said the Subang Air Traffic Control lost contact with the plane at 2.40am but this was a radar contact not a position reported by the pilot.

He added there was no distress call made from the aircraft, which is 11 years and 10 months old.

The aircraft has fuel to last until 8.30am today, and MAS reported the loss of contact to the  authorities at 7.30am.

"We have to investigate and collate evidence," he said.

Asked if there are any VIP on board, he said, "We have checked the manifest and these are our normal passengers."

'Next of kin notified'

The 227 passengers and 12 crew on board comprise 152 Chinese nationals plus an infant, 38 Malaysians, 12 Indonesians, seven Australians, three French nationals, three Americans plus an infant, two Canadians, two New Zealand nationals, two Ukrainians, a Russian, an Italian, a Taiwanese, a Dutch national and an Austrian.

Pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53, is Malaysian and has 18,365 flight hours. He joined MAS in 1981.

First officer Fariq Abdul Hamid, 27, joined MAS in 2007 and has 2763 flying hours.

MAS has informed all the passengers' next of kin and said the public can get further information at +603-78841234 or visit the MAS wesbite.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with all the affected crew and passengers and their families," he said.

Mkini