Malaysia Airlines plane vanishes over South China Sea; Vietnamese reportedly spot oil slicks
Malaysia Airlines plane vanishes over South China Sea; Vietnamese reportedly spot oil slicks
(about 1 hour later)
BEIJING — Searchers have found two oil slicks in the waters off the southern tip of Vietnam in the South China Sea but no signs of a Malaysia Airlines flight that disappeared from the sky. There were 239 people aboard, including two who appear to have been traveling with false identification.
BEIJING — A Malaysia Airlines flight that disappeared from the sky is presumed to have crashed in the Gulf of Thailand off Vietnam with 239 people aboard, including two who appear to have been traveling with false identification.
Vietnamese air force planes spotted the two large oil slicks that officials believe are from a Malaysia Airlines flight that suddenly vanished from air traffic control screens and was presumed to have crashed early Saturday, the Associated Press reported.
That fact led to speculation about terrorism and added to the mystery of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, a red-eye carrying passengers from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing that vanished from radar after midnight Saturday (Friday afternoon EST).
Search and rescue vessels and planes from Southeast Asia have been scouring the waters of the South China Sea in search of the Boeing 777 that was carrying 239 people, including at least three Americans, but hopes of finding survivors faded as night fell and more than 20 hours passed since the plane disappeared.
The Vietnamese government said in a statement that two oil slicks spotted off the southern tip of the country were between six and nine miles long and were consistent with the kinds that would be left by fuel from a crashed jet, according to the Associated Press.
The Vietnamese government said in a statement that the slicks spotted off the southern tip of the country were between six and nine miles long and were consistent with the kinds that would be left by fuel from a crashed jet, according to AP.
But after 24 hours, the airline posted a notice saying it still had no idea of the whereabouts of the Boeing 777-200 aircraft.
The airline said the flight had gone missing in the early hours of Saturday as it flew from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing in what appeared to be clear skies and without sending a distress signal.
“An international search and rescue mission from Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam was mobilized this morning,” the airline said in a statement. “At this stage, they have failed to find evidence of any wreckage.”
There were passengers from 14 countries aboard, including three Americans, according to a manifest posted on the airline’s Web site. They were identified as Philip Wood, 51, an IBM employee working in Malaysia; four-year-old Nicole Meng and two-year-old Yan Zhang.
There was no distress signal from the plane’s pilots, and crashes usually happen during take-off and landing. That heightened concerns about reports that two men listed on the airline’s manifest of passengers were never on the flight.
The men, one from Italy and the other from Austria, had both reported to authorities that their passports had gone missing in Thailand and were believed to have been stolen.
Asked whether terrorism was suspected in the plane’s disappearance, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said authorities were “looking at all possibilities, but it is too early to make any conclusive remarks.”
U.S. officials said the cause of the crash remained unclear but that intelligence agencies were examining the possibility of any terrorist connection.
There were passengers from 14 countries aboard, including three Americans, according to the manifest posted on the airline’s Web site. They were identified as Philip Wood, 51, an IBM employee working in Malaysia; 4-year-old Nicole Meng and 2-year-old Yan Zhang.
In a brief interview, Wood’s mother, Sondra Wood, of Keller, Tex., said she received a call from the American embassy in Malaysia. Her son had just been in Texas visiting her and her husband, she said, and she knew he’d be on the Malaysia Airlines flight.
“He was a wonderful person and very intelligent,” she said. “I could talk forever about him. He’s my son, and any mother would be proud of their son.”
Aside from his work at IBM, Sondra Wood said, her son loved building furniture. “He was very artistic,” she said. Phil Wood has two sons, ages 20 and 24, his mother said.
Search and rescue vessels and planes from Southeast Asia have been scouring the waters in that part of the South China Sea, and Razak said “the search and rescue operations will continue as long as necessary.”
Ships and aircraft from Malaysia and Vietnam were leading the search, officials said. The United States, the Philippines and Singapore sent planes to help, while vessels were dispatched from the Philippines and China, wire services reported. Vietnamese fishermen were also put on alert.
Ships and aircraft from Malaysia and Vietnam were leading the search, officials said. The United States, the Philippines and Singapore sent planes to help, while vessels were dispatched from the Philippines and China, wire services reported. Vietnamese fishermen were also put on alert.
“The search and rescue operations will continue as long as necessary,” Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak told reporters in Kuala Lumpur, according to the Reuters news agency.
U.S. Seventh Fleet officials said in a statement that the USS Pinckney, a guided-missile destroyer, and a P-3C Orion aircraft were being sent to help in the search.
U.S. Seventh Fleet officials said in a statement that the USS Pinckney, a guided-missile destroyer, and a P-3C Orion aircraft were being sent to help in the search.
Meanwhile, questions surfaced about the identities of two of the passengers on board after evidence emerged that they could have been traveling with stolen passports.
Meanwhile, there were questions about the identities of two of the passengers on board after evidence emerged that they could have been traveling with stolen passports.
Italian media had initially listed Luigi Maraldi among the passengers. But the 37-year-old reportedly phoned his parents on Saturday to say he was safe in Thailand. His passport had been stolen there last year, and he was later issued new documents.
Italian media had initially listed Luigi Maraldi among the passengers. But the 37-year-old reportedly phoned his parents on Saturday to say he was safe in Thailand. His passport had been stolen there last year, he said, and he was later issued new documents.
“One hypothesis therefore is that he was listed because someone boarded the plane using his stolen passport,” the Corriere della Serra reported.
“One hypothesis therefore is that he was listed because someone boarded the plane using his stolen passport,” the Corriere della Serra reported.
Similarly, Austrian media reported that an Austrian citizen had been listed as among the passengers but had subsequently been found to be safe. His passport had been stolen in Thailand two years before, the Austrian foreign ministry said.
Similarly, Austrian media reported that an Austrian citizen had been listed as among the passengers but had been found to be safe. His passport had been stolen in Thailand two years before, the Austrian foreign ministry said.
Flight MH370 lost contact with Malaysia air traffic control at 1:20 a.m. Saturday (12:20 p.m. EST Friday), less than an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur, and as it was completing its ascent. It vanished on the borders of the territorial waters of Malaysia and Vietnam, where the Gulf of Thailand meets the South China Sea. It had been due to land at Beijing at 6:30 a.m. (5:30 p.m. EST Friday).
Flight MH370 lost contact with Malaysia air traffic control at 1:20 a.m. Saturday (12:20 p.m. EST Friday), less than an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur and as it was completing its ascent. It vanished on the borders of the territorial waters of Malaysia and Vietnam, where the Gulf of Thailand meets the South China Sea. It had been due to land at Beijing at 6:30 a.m. (5:30 p.m. EST Friday).
On board were 227 passengers and 12 crew members from 14 countries. They included 154 citizens of China or Taiwan, including one infant, 38 Malaysians, and several Indonesians, Australians, Indians and French citizens.
In Beijing, relatives and friends of those on board were taken by minibus from the airport to a hotel in the city to wait for news. Grief was mixed with anger at the lack of information, with Malaysia Airlines insisting it was still investigating the incident but not yet releasing the passenger manifest. Earlier it had cited speculation that the plane might have landed in Vietnam, although this was later denied.
In Beijing, relatives and friends of those on board were taken by minibus from the airport to a hotel in the city to wait for news.
Malaysia Airlines said it had sent a team from Malaysia to the hotel in Beijing to look after the relatives. It said it would pay for immediate family members of passengers to gather at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport
Grief was mixed with anger at the lack of information, with Malaysia Airlines insisting it was still investigating the incident but not initially releasing the passenger manifest. Earlier it had cited speculation that the plane might have landed in Vietnam, although this was later denied.
The plane’s sudden disappearance, without calling for help brought back memories of an Air France flight that disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on June 1, 2009.
“I haven’t even met a single person from Malaysia Airlines, just Chinese volunteers,” a 30-year old man who had come to meet his cousin told a throng of reporters. “I just need to confirm one thing: they told me it landed — does that mean a crash? Because I heard a crash from the news, and it drives me crazy.”
A little later, a small group of relatives left the hotel.
“Let us out, let us out,” one man shouted as he left. “We have been here for more than three hours. They are keeping 200 family members in a room and only giving us information released at 10:30 a.m. This is not fair. They didn’t even give us the full list of passengers on the plane, so we are not staying anymore.”
Relatives of a 34-year-old migrant worker, returning home from Singapore, rushed to the airport by train as soon as they heard his plane was missing. His wife wept as she waited for news. “We don’t know what to think,” the man’s brother said. “The only thing left for us is waiting.”
Later, the man’s wife said she was still clinging to hope that he had not boarded the plane. “If they don’t confirm the manifest, that still leaves me with a slight hope he is still alive,” she said.
Malaysia Airlines said it had sent a team from Malaysia to the hotel in Beijing to look after the relatives.
Malaysian search and rescue vessels reached the area around 4:30 p.m. on Saturday afternoon but found no sign of wreckage, a Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency official told Reuters.
As the search widened, the Malaysian prime minister said the country had dispatched 15 air force aircraft, six naval ships and three coast guard vessels to search the seas. Vietnam sent two ships, two jets and a helicopter, and prepared to send more. The Philippines sent three planes and three naval ships, while two ships from China were also en route, according to wires and state media.
The plane’s sudden disappearance, without calling for help, brought back memories of an Air France flight that disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on June 1, 2009.
While some wreckage and bodies were found in subsequent weeks, it took nearly two years for the main wreckage and the plane’s black box flight recorders to be recovered.
While some wreckage and bodies were found in subsequent weeks, it took nearly two years for the main wreckage and the plane’s black box flight recorders to be recovered.
Malaysia Airlines said in a statement that its focus was on working with emergency responders and authorities. “Our thoughts and prayers are with all affected passengers and crew and their family members,” it said. Meanwhile, Malaysian authorities denied a Vietnamese report that the plane had definitely crashed into the sea.
“We are doing everything in our power to locate the plane. We are doing everything we can to ensure every possible angle has been addressed,” Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told reporters near the Kuala Lumpur airport, according to Reuters. “We are looking for accurate information from the Malaysian military. They are waiting for information from the Vietnamese side.”
“We are doing everything in our power to locate the plane. We are doing everything we can to ensure every possible angle has been addressed,” Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told reporters near the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, according to Reuters. “We are looking for accurate information from the Malaysian military. They are waiting for information from the Vietnamese side.”
There were no reports of bad weather in the area.
There were no reports of bad weather in the area. Asked whether terrorism was suspected, Hussein said authorities “had no information but were looking at all possibilities.”
The South China Sea is a tense region of competing territorial claims among a number of countries, but the plane disappeared well away from the disputed waters, and countries in the region appeared to put aside their differences in their search for the plane.
The South China Sea is a tense region of competing territorial claims among a number of countries, but the plane disappeared well away from the disputed waters, and countries in the region appeared to put aside their differences in their search for the plane.
“In times of emergencies like this, we have to show unity of efforts that transcends boundaries and issues,” said Lt. Gen. Roy Deveraturda, commander of the Philippine military’s Western Command, according to AP.
“In times of emergencies like this, we have to show unity of efforts that transcends boundaries and issues,” said Lt. Gen. Roy Deveraturda, commander of the Philippine military’s Western Command, according to AP.
In Beijing, authorities conferred with the ambassadors of Malaysia and Vietnam to coordinate search and rescue efforts, while Premier Li Keqiang called his Malaysian counterpart to urge speedy search and rescue efforts, state media reported.
Barnes reported from Washington. Liu Liu, Gu Jinglu and Xu Jing in Beijing and Karen DeYoung and Ian R. Shapira in Washington also contributed to this report.
“We are extremely worried,” China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters in Beijing on Saturday morning, according to state media. “The news is very disturbing. We hope everyone is safe.”
The Boeing 777-200ER last had contact with air traffic controllers 120 nautical miles off the east coast of the Malaysian town of Kota Bharu, Malaysia Airlines said in a statement. The deputy chief of staff of Vietnam’s army, Lt. Gen. Vo Van Tuan, said the plane’s radar signal had vanished “one minute before it entered Vietnam’s air traffic control,” in a statement carried by AP.
If the plane is found to have crashed, it would mark the second fatal accident involving a 777 since it was introduced into service in 1995. In July 2013, an Asiana Airlines Boeing 777-200ER crash-landed in San Francisco, killing three passengers and injuring more than 180.
The United States could have a role in any investigation as the plane was built there, according to Kelly Nantel , a spokeswoman for the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board. “We won’t know who would lead the investigation until the location is identified,” she told AP.
Boeing said it was assembling a team to help with the investigation. “It’s too early to make any speculation on the causes of the accident,” said Boeing China spokesman Wang Yukui.
Chinese state media reported that the plane, a codeshare with China Southern Airlines, was nearly 12 years old. But Boeing’s Wang said there was no link between the safety of an airplane and its service life.
“Each aircraft is required to meet airworthiness standards before they come into service. Even for the old aircraft, they will need periodic evaluations to make sure they still meet the standards,” he said.
In February, Reuters reported that state-owned Malaysia Airlines was awaiting government approval to buy 100 new planes from Boeing and Airbus, to retire older, less fuel-efficient planes.
Although the airline recently reported its fourth straight quarterly loss, it had a good safety record. Its latest fatal accident came in 1995, when 34 people died in a crash near the Malaysian city of Tawau. In 1977, a domestic Malaysia Airlines flight crashed after being hijacked, killing 100 people.
Aviation industry intelligence Web site Leeham News said investigators would look at a range of possibilities, including catastrophic structural failure of the engines or airframe, dual engine flame-out, loss of control due to clear air turbulence, penetration of the cockpit and incapacitation of the crew, a bomb, an accidental hit from a military missile or pilot suicide.
Barnes reported from Washington. Liu Liu, Gu Jinglu and Xu Jing in Beijing and Karen DeYoung in Washington also contributed to this report.
