A
relative of a passenger onboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 cries at
the Beijing Capital International Airport. Photo: Reuters
A major air and sea search was underway as darkness fell Saturday night following the disappearance of a Malaysia Airlines flight carrying 239 people.
The aircraft relayed no distress signal, indications of bad weather or technical problems before vanishing from radar screens some 16 hours ago, as it travelled from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
Authorities said they had no idea what had happened to the plane, while Malaysia Airlines said they had "no information" on its whereabouts.
The flight was being piloted by Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, a Malaysian aged 53, with 18,365 hours' flying experience. He joined Malaysia Airlines in 1981.
Heartbreaking scenes were played out at Beijing and Kuala Lumpur airports as family and friends awaited news of the 227 passengers and 12 crew members on board, with tempers fraying as some demanded information.
Indonesia-based aviation analyst Gerry Soejatman said the clock was ticking on a “24-hour golden window” for search and rescue efforts.
“You can’t assume that there are no survivors, and if there are any, it is absolutely crucial that they are picked up within a day, or the chances of survival drops significantly,” he said.
A file photo of a Malaysia Airlines plane at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Photo: AP Throughout the day confusing messages emerged, with the Vietnamese at one point being quoted as saying the plane had crashed into the ocean. The claim was later withdrawn.
Malaysia Airlines said in a statement on Saturday afternoon that the company was "working with international authorities on the search and rescue mission" and that there was "no information" on the aircraft.
In a fresh statement released last night the airline said: "We understand everyone's concern on MH370 pax & crew. We're accelerating every effort with all relevant authorities to locate the aircraft."
Pham Hien, a Vietnamese search and rescue official, earlier said the last signal had been detected120 nautical miles southwest of Vietnam's southernmost Ca Mau province.
Director of Vietnam's airspace, Lai Xuan Thanh, said the plane had been over the sea and heading towards the country's airspace, but air traffic controllers were unable to make contact with the pilots before it vanished.
There were 153 Chinese nationals on board, including one infant, an airline representative said at a press conference on Saturday morning. Also on board were passengers from the following countries and regions:
Malaysia 38; Indonesia 7; Australia 6; India 5; France 4; United States 3 (including one infant); New Zealand 2, Ukraine 2, Canada 2; Russia 1, Italy 1, Taiwan 1, Netherlands 1, Austria 1. The spokesperson could not confirm if any HongKongers were among the Chinese nationals on board.
Dozens of relatives were on Saturday taken from Beijing airport to a nearby hotel where they were anxiously awaiting news of the aircraft's fate.
One man at the airport said his 60-year-old wife had been in a tour group with 20 other passengers onboard the flight.
A
crying woman is escorted to a bus for relatives at the Beijing Airport
after news of the missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200 plane on
March 8, 2014. Photo: AFPFlight MH370 lost contact with air traffic controllers near Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam at around 2.40am local time, the airline said in a statement. No distress signal was relayed before the aircraft disappeared.
Malaysia Airlines CEO, Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, said in a press conference Saturday that the company was "deeply saddened" by news of the disappearance.
"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.
People believed to be passengers' relatives waiting at Beijing airport on Saturday morning. Photo: Reuters"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."
He added: "Our thoughts and prayers are with all affected passengers and crew and their family members."
A Malaysia Airlines spokesman told the South China Morning Post on Saturday that representatives were contacting the next of kin of passengers and crew members.
Earlier Saturday rumours circulated that the plane had landed safely, but Fuad Sharuji, Malaysian Airlines’ vice president of operations control, told CNN that they were untrue and the airline had no idea where the aircraft was.
An information board at Beijing airport shows the flight was "delayed". Photo: ReutersThe plane, a Boeing 777-200, left Kuala Lumpur 41 minutes after midnight on Saturday, and had been due to arrive in Beijing at 6:30am local time, the airline added.
A Malaysia Airlines spokesperson added that if the plane was in the air, it would have run out of fuel sometime around 8.30am.
“At this moment, we have got no idea where this aircraft is right now," he said on Saturday morning.
At Beijing’s airport, authorities posted a notice asking relatives and friends of passengers to gather to a hotel about 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the airport to wait for further information, and provided a shuttle bus service.
Zhai Le was waiting for her friends, a couple who were on their way back to the Chinese capital on the flight. She said she was very concerned because she had not been able to reach them.
Reporters and relatives waiting at the Beijing airport on Saturday. Photo: Weibo screenshotA woman wept aboard the shuttle bus while saying on a mobile phone, “They want us to go to the hotel. It cannot be good.”
At Kuala Lumpur International Airport, family members looking sombre and distraught trickled in to a designated waiting area for loved ones, escorted by authorities.
“They gave us no information so far,” complained one man, who said his niece and her husband were on the flight for a one-week holiday in China.
Wang Yi, China’s Foreign Minister said: “The Foreign Ministry and the related Chinese embassies have started an emergency working mechanism. We will release the information as soon as possible."
Liu Guohua, general manager of Malaysia Airlines in greater China, at a press conference in Beijing. Photo: Simon Song“The Foreign Ministry and the relating Chinese embassies have started an emergency working mechanism and worked at our best to know about the concrete situation. We will release the information as soon as possible,” said Wang.
According to data from CAPA Centre for Aviation, the average age of Malaysia Airline’s fleet of Boeing 777-200ER are 14.3 years old. The average age of the fleet is 4.5 years old.
The same aircraft model of the Boeing 777-200ER crashed at San Francisco on July 6, last year. Asiana Airlines OZ214 crashed on landing at the west-coast American airport, killing three people and injuring 181 people.
China’s foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in a statement: “We are very concerned learning this news.”
“We are contacting relevant authorities and are trying to confirm relevant information.”
A map provided by live air traffic site flightradar24 shows the last position the flight was trackedA Beijing airport spokeswoman said the facility had activated an emergency response system. Screens at the airport indicated the flight was “delayed.”
An accident would be a huge blow for the carrier, which has bled money for years as its struggles to fend off competition from rivals such as fast-growing AirAsia.
It recorded its fourth straight quarterly loss during the final three months of last year and warned of a “challenging” year ahead due to intense competition.
In 2012, the carrier admitted it was in “crisis”, forcing it to implement a cost-cutting campaign centred on slashing routes and other measures.
In 2011, it chalked up a record 2.5 billion ringgit ( US$767 million) loss. Boeing, which has been beset by problems with its high-tech 787 Dreamliners put into service two years ago, including a months-long global grounding over battery problems last year, issued a brief statement on its Twitter feed.
“We’re closely monitoring reports on Malaysia flight MH370. Our thoughts are with everyone on board,” it said.
MAS has suffered few accidents in its history.
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