A Beijing-bound Malaysian Airlines plane that went missing with 239 people on board, including five Indians, on Saturday crashed into the sea off Vietnam’s southern Phu Quoc Island, Vietnamese media reported.
The Boeing 777—200 Flight MH370 with 227 passengers and 12 crew members on board crashed 250 km off coast of Tho Chu island, Vietnamese newspaper Tuoi Tre (Youth) quoted Rear Admiral Ngo Van Phat, political commissar of the Fifth Naval Region of Vietnam, as saying.
A fresh passengers’ list issued by the airline said five Indians were among the 239 passengers on board the aircraft, correcting its previous account in which Indians were not mentioned.
“At the moment, there are no Vietnamese navy boats in that area so we have to ask boats from Phu Quoc island to be prepared for rescue,” the admiral said.
From the report it was not clear how the admiral knew about the crash or whether the wreckage of the ill-fated plane has been located.
There is no confirmation about the report from the Malaysian authorities.
Chinese media is reporting the plane may have crashed into the South China Sea, state-run Xinhua news agency said.
The plane took off at 12:41 a.m. (local time) and lost contact with Subang Air Traffic Control near Kuala Lumpur almost two hours later at 2:40 a.m, the airlines said.
The fresh list of passengers issued by the airline mentions people of 14 nationalities including Indians.
The plane disappeared in the night somewhere over South China Sea while enroute to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur.
“Focus of the airline is to work with the emergency responders and authorities and mobilize its full support,” the Malaysia Airlines CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya earlier said.
He said the pilot of the missing aircraft, identified as Capt. Zaharie Ahmad Shah, had 18365 hours of experience and joined the airlines in 1981.
Those on board include 152 Chinese, 38 Malaysians, 5 Indians, 7 Indonesians, 6 Australians, 3 French, 4 including an infant from the US, 2 New Zealanders, 2 Ukrainians, 2 Canadians, 1 each from Russia, Italy, Taiwan, Netherlands and Austria.
Malaysia Airlines is currently working with the authorities who have activated their Search and Rescue team to locate the aircraft, Jauhari said.
“Our team is currently calling the next-of-kin of passengers and crew,” he added.
Confusion and chaos prevailed in Beijing where the planed was due to land at 6.30 a.m.
Relatives of the 152 Chinese passengers rushed to the airport and later the Malaysian Airline office to find about the fate of their near dear ones.
Malaysia verifying report
Malaysia on Saturday was checking a report by a Vietnamese navy official that a Malaysia Airlines plane that went missing en route to Beijing has crashed, Malaysian Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said.
“Since the report mentioned the Vietnamese navy, we need to verify that with them,” he said, adding he had already requested the military to contact its Vietnamese counterpart.
The plane reportedly crashed in the South China Sea near the border between Malaysian and Vietnamese airspace.
Malaysia Airlines said in a statement that it still had no information on the location of the missing plane.
Source : THEHINDU
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