The flight information board in Beijing. Photograph: Kim Kyung-hoon/Reuters
As some people have pointed out in the comments, the reported
location of plane’s last signal in that AP story contradicts the earlier
post pointing to Flightglobal, which suggested the plane would have
been off the east coast of Vietnam about two hours into the flight. At
this stage we can’t confirm which is correct.
Here is the report via Yahoo Singapore
referring to the Vietnamese navy’s claim that its military radar
recorded the plane crashing into the sea. Stressing again that this is
an unconfirmed report and the airline has not commented on it.
Associated Press is also reporting named Vietnamese officals pinpointing
more exactly where the last signal from the plane came from:
“Pham
Hien, a Vietnamese search and rescue official, said that the signal was
detected 120 nautical miles southwest of Vietnam’s southernmost Ca Mau
province. Lai Xuan Thanh, director of Vietnam’s civil aviation
authority, said that the plane was over the sea and bound for Vietnamese
airspace but air traffic officials in the country were never able to
make contact.”
Malaysia Airlines has just posted a revised list of those nationalities, which shows the number of Australians at six rather than seven. Our list below omitted one Russian.
More from Tania Branigan in Beijing: China’s state media CCTV news
says the country has dispatched two ships to assist with the search and
rescue operation in the South China Sea.
Nationalities of those on board
Just to recap on the details given earlier by the airline. Here are
the number of passengers from each country believed to make up the 227
on board: China: 153 Malaysia: 38 Indonesia: 12 Australia: 7 US: 4 France: 3 New Zealand: 2 Ukraine: 2 Canada: 2 Italy, Taiwan, Netherlands, Austria: 1 each
There
are also 12 crew, of which we know the pilot, Captain Zaharie Ahmad
Shah, and first officer Fariq Ab. Hamid, are both Malaysian.
Seven Australian citizens are among the passengers on the flight
list. Our reporter in Canberra Daniel Hurst has the statement from the
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade with contact numbers for
relatives.
“Malaysia Airlines has advised that it is contacting
relatives of the passengers on the flight,” the statement says.”The
airline has established a call centre – telephone +60 37884 1234
– for those seeking more information. The Department of Foreign Affairs
and Trade’s 24 hour Consular Emergency Centre is contactable on 1 300
555 135, or +61 2 6261 3305 (if calling from overseas).”
Updated
Unconfirmed reports say Vietnamese media are reporting their navy
has confirmed MH370 crashed into the ocean. There is a lot of
unconfirmed information and speculation out there, but sadly this seems
the most plausible outcome based on what we know so far.
Malaysia Airlines is pointing to an official page
for “latest updates”, although so far there is little more than its
media statement, which contains nothing that wasn’t known some time ago.
Here’s a basic map showing the area of the flight’s path. Flightglobal.com
describes its route: “According to route data on flight tracking web
site Flightaware, MH370 would have departed KL [next to where Shah Alam
appears on this map], flown northeast across the Malaysian peninsula,
whence it would have crossed the South China Sea, making landfall in
Vietnam. The aircraft would have crossed the Mekong Delta region, and
left the Vietnam coastline in the region of the central Vietnamese city
of Da Nang. By this point the aircraft would have been about two hours
into the flight – roughly where contact was lost. After this, the
aircraft would have passed to the south of Hainan Island, before
reaching the coast of southern China.”
At Beijing airport authorities have provided buses for relatives to
go to a hotel about 15 kilometres away for further briefings. Associated
Press reported one woman on the bus was weeping while saying on a
mobile phone, “They want us to go to the hotel. It can’t be good!” Notice at Beijing airport. Photograph: Wang Shen/REX
The names of the pilot and first officer have been released. The
pilot is Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, a Malaysian aged 53. He joined
Malaysia Airlines in 1981 and has 18,365 flying hours. First officer
Fariq Ab. Hamid, also Malaysian, is 27. He joined the airline in 2007
and has 2,763 hours.
Vietnamese authorities now say the reports a signal had been
detected were false. “We have been seeking but no signal from the plane
yet,” Pham Hien, director of a Vietnam maritime search and rescue
co-ordination centre in Vung Tau, told Reuters. “The information on
local media about the signal near the Cape Ca Mau was inaccurate,” Pham
said.
Also from the MAS media conference: the airline said the location of
the last contact with air traffic control was 120 nautical miles off
the east coast of the Malaysian town of Kota Bharu. Malaysian and
Vietnamese authorities are working jointly on search operations in the
area.
China state media says Vietnam authorities have detected signals from the missing plane, Associated Press reports.
James Fallows, following the story in The Atlantic,
says whatever has happened to the plane is unlikely to be a result of
chronic poor practices by Malaysia Airlines (“a good, competent and
modern airline”). The Boeing 777 also has an excellent safety record.
Links also here to Flight Aware, which shows the moment in the log the plane lost contact with air traffic control.
In Malaysia, acting transport minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin
Hussein took to Twitter to encourage family and friends of those on
board to stay calm and not to speculate about events.
To the family members of
the passengers on board- stay calm &only get info fr validated
sources. We'll keep all informed. Prayers with all
— Hishammuddin Hussein (@HishammuddinH2O) March 8, 2014
The Malaysian Airlines spokesman told the press conference in Kuala
Lumpur the captain of the flight was a 53-year-old Malaysian, who had
been with the company since 1981. The first officer was 27, and joined
the company in 2007. The airline says it will hold another briefing in
Beijing shortly.
Relatives of passengers at Beijing airport. Photograph: Kim Kyung-hoon/Reuters
Understandably there are very distressing scenes at Beijing airport,
where some relatives of passengers on board have been arriving.
That was a Malaysia Airlines representatives giving details of those
on board. There was little further concrete information on the fate of
the plane. Earlier the airline’s vice-presdient of operations control,
Fuad Sharuji, told CNN:
“At the moment we have no
idea where this aircraft is right now.” He said Subang air traffic
control lost contact with flight MH370 at about 2.40am local time.
A press conference is under way. The nationalities on board have just been released:
China
152 plus one infant, Malaysia 38, Indonesia 12, Australia 7, France 3,
US 3 plus one infant, NZ two, Ukraine two, Canada two, Russia 1, Italy
one, Taiwan one, Netherlands one and Austria one.
Sketchy information has been coming in about the missing plane in
the past hour or so. Fuad Sharuji, vice president of operations control
for Malaysia Airlines, says rumours that it had landed safely in
southern China were untrue, our China correspondent Tania Branigan
reports.
“We do not know where the aircraft is right now,” he told
CNN. Asked if there had been any indication the plane was experiencing
problems, he replied: “Not at all. The last report said the aircraft was
flying at 35,000 feet... there were no calls from the crew [to indicate
difficulties].”
What we know so far
• Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has gone missing en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing
• Boeing 777 was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew
• About 160 passengers are believed to be Chinese nationals
• Plane left KL at 12.41am local time and lost contact with air traffic control about two hours later
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