MALAYSIA WIDENS SEARCH AREA FOR MISSING PLANE
The search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has expanded to two areas and is now covering almost 50,000 square kilometres, Malaysia's transport minister, Hishammuddin Hussein said.
In Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, Hussien said 42 ships and 39 aircraft had been deployed in search operations.
Hussein said the search effort for the missing plane with 239 people on board was "unprecedented" and that authorities would continue searching until they found it.
The operation is a multinational effort with 12 countries now taking part.
Hussein gave his assurance to the families of passengers and crew that no efforts would be spared in finding the plane.
"We will never give up hope," he said.
Flight MH370 took off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing early on Saturday
morning and last made contact with ground control officials about 35,000
feet (10,600km) above the Gulf of Thailand between Malaysia and
southern Vietnam before vanishing.
)
MALAYSIAN AIRLINES HUNTS FOR MISSING PLANE CARRYING 239
Malaysia Airlines said a flight carrying 239 people
from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing went missing early Saturday, and the
airline was notifying next of kin in a sign it feared the worst.
The airline said flight MH370 disappeared at 2:40 am local time (1840
GMT Friday), about two hours after leaving Kuala Lumpur International
Airport. It had been due to arrive in Beijing at 6:30 am local time
(2230 GMT Friday).
A statement posted on the official Vietnamese government website said the flight disappeared in Vietnamese airspace.
"The plane lost contact in Ca Mau province airspace before it had
entered contact with Ho Chi Minh City air traffic control," it said.
The plane was meant to transfer to Ho Chi Minh City air traffic
control at 1722 GMT but never appeared, the statement said, citing a
senior Ministry of Defence official.
Vietnam's Ministry of Defence has launched rescue efforts to find the
plane, working in coordination with Malaysian and Chinese officials,
the statement added.
The Boeing 777-200 was carrying 227 passengers, including two infants, from 13 different nationalities, and 12 crew members.
China's state television said 158 of the passengers were Chinese.
Some 160 Chinese had been due to be on the flight but two missed it,
according to Xinhua, quoting China's Civil Aviation Administration.
- "We deeply regret that we have lost all contacts with flight MH370 which departed Kuala Lumpur at 12.41 am earlier this morning bound for Beijing," Malaysia Airlines Group Chief Executive Officer Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said in a statement.
- The statement said the Malaysian flag carrier was working with authorities, who had launched an effort to locate the aircraft.
"Our team is currently calling the next-of-kin of passengers and crew," Ahmad Jauhari said."Our thoughts and prayers are with all affected passengers and crew and their family members."
The airline's Kuala Lumpur-Beijing route passes over the South China
Sea, and remote parts of the Indochinese peninsula before entering
southern Chinese airspace.
A Malaysian Airlines spokeswoman said she could not immediately
provide further details, but the airline said it would soon hold a press
conference in Kuala Lumpur.
Source: Yahoo...More...
VISITORS GEOFLAGS SINCE AUGUST 26, 2009
