MALAYSIA AIRLINES PLANE WITH 239 ON BOARD GOES MISSING

The Malaysia Airlines (MAS) has confirmed on Saturday that its flight MH370, carrying 239 people including two infants, has lost contact with Subang Air Traffic Control here.

In a statement issued by MAS, Flight MH370, operated on the B777-200 aircraft, departed Kuala Lumpur at 12:41am (1010 pm IST) on 8 March 2014. It lost touch with the ATC around 2:40 am (1210 am IST).

It was expected to land in Beijing at 6:30 am the same day.

The flight having 239 people including 12 crew members onboard was expected to land in Beijing at 6:30 am.

Malaysia Airlines said it is currently working with the authorities who have activated their Search and Rescue team to locate the aircraft.

The Airlines has had an excellent track record, it said.

Meanwhile, the China Civil Aviation Administration (CCAA) has confirmed that over 150 of the passengers were Chinese nationals.

So far, the plane has not contacted Chinese air traffic management department or entered China’s airspace, state run Xinhua news agency reported.

“The news is very disturbing. We hope everyone on the plane is safe,” said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the annual session of the National People’s Congress, China’s top legislature.

He said that China’s Foreign Ministry and the related departments had activated emergency response mechanism.

“As soon as we have any more information, we will give it to you immediately,” he said.

VIETNAM DETECTS SIGNALS

China’s state media say Vietnamese authorities have detected signals from the missing Malaysia Airlines plane.

The Xinhua News Agency, citing a local Vietnamese media report, says a Vietnamese search and rescue official reported that the signals have been detected from the plane from about 220 km southwest of Vietnam’s southernmost coastal province of Ca Mau.

Malaysia Airlines says its Boeing 777-200 carrying 239 people lost contact over the South China Sea early Saturday morning on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.