A Malaysia Airlines flight carrying 239 people lost contact with air traffic control and was missing hours after its expected arrival in Beijing.
The Boeing 777-200 departed Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 12:41 a.m. and was expected to land in Beijing at 6:30 a.m., a 2,300-mile (3,700 kilometer) trip. It was carrying 227 passengers, two of them infants, and 12 crew members, the airline said.
At the time of its disappearance, the plane was carrying about 7.5 hours of fuel, Sharuji said.
The passengers are of 13 nationalities, the airline said. They were from China and Taiwan (154), Malaysia (38), Indonesia (12), Australia (7), France (3), United States (4), New Zealand (2), Ukraine (2), Canada (2), Russia (1), Italy (1), Netherlands (1), Austria (1).
Aviation expert Chris Yates said the plane would not be carrying enough fuel to still be in the air and would ‘definitely have crashed’.
He told Sky News: ‘Frankly the plane would not have been carrying enough fuel to stay aloft much longer than an hour after it was due to arrive in Beijing.
‘We simply don’t know the circumstances behind what caused that crash at the moment.
‘There will be two areas for the investigation: the maintenance of the aircraft and also possible terrorism.’
Family of friends of those on board the flight stormed both airports to get information about their loved ones.
Photos show so much tears and tension in the airport.
Search operation is on going.
(Hat Tip: NBC News, Daily Mail)
