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| A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200 carrying 239 people lost contact over the South China Sea on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, raising fears that the plane might have plunged into the pacific ocean. |
The plane, carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members, lost communication two hours into the flight in
Vietnam's airspace at 1.20am local time, China's official Xinhua News Agency reports.
The aircraft left Kuala Lumpur for Beijing 12: 11 am on Friday and had been expected to arrive China at 6:30 am but lost contact with traffic controllers over the South China Sea between Malaysia and Vietnam.
Passengers were from 14 countries, including 153 from China, 38 from Malaysia, seven Australians and four Americans.
Search & rescue have begun and families and next of kin of passengers and crew have been notified.
The aircraft left Kuala Lumpur for Beijing 12: 11 am on Friday and had been expected to arrive China at 6:30 am but lost contact with traffic controllers over the South China Sea between Malaysia and Vietnam.
Passengers were from 14 countries, including 153 from China, 38 from Malaysia, seven Australians and four Americans.
Search & rescue have begun and families and next of kin of passengers and crew have been notified.
In Beijing meanwhile,Tearful and angry friends and relatives of passengers on board missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 lashed out at the company Saturday as journalists besieged them in a Beijing hotel.
Many were taken there by the airline after going to the Chinese capital’s airport to meet the flight, scheduled to land at around 6:30am.
A press conference was expected at the same location, and when others arrived later, they had to run the gauntlet of scores of Chinese and international reporters shoving microphones and cameras in their faces.
“They should have told us something before now,” said one visibly distressed man in his 30s, from the Chinese city of Tianjin.
A man in his 20s struggled to help a grieving older woman, possibly his mother, into a quiet room as journalists shouted questions at her.
“They are useless,” he said of the airline. “I don’t know why they haven’t released any information. We waited for four hours and all they told us was the very few details they released at the media conference.”
At the press conference, a Malaysia Airlines staffer read out a statement that had already been given in Kuala Lumpur — and which the passengers had read online — in chaotic scenes as scores of cameramen fought and barged each other out the way to get clear shot.
Excerpts from Vanguard