[Updates Below] A Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777, traveling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, is presumed to have crashed into waters near Phu Quoc Island in South Vietnam, according to a senior Navy official.
The flight, carrying 239 passengers, lost contact with air traffic control on Saturday at 02:40 local time. It was expected to arrive in Beijing at 06:30, according to the BBC.
There were 227 passengers on board, including 2 children and 12 crew members. The Chief Executive of Malaysian Airlines, Ahmad Jauhari, said that 80% of the passenger's families have been contacted.
Troi Tre reports that Rear Admiral Ngo Van Phat, the political commissioner of Fifth Naval Region, commented that the plane may have crashed 300 kilometres off of Tho Chu Island, around 102 kilometres southwest of the famous resort island of Phu Quoc.
Malaysia Airlines has disclosed last known position of #MH370http://t.co/iZs7x7o2Cfpic.twitter.com/dTneIUNeiV
— Jessica Yu (@UjessU) March 8, 2014Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and China have dispatched rescue ships and aircraft to the waters between Vietnam and Malaysia.
According to Reuters, Malaysia Airlines still denies that crash scene has been identified:
Vietnamese state media, quoting a senior naval official, had reported that the Boeing 777-200ER flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing had crashed off south Vietnam, but Malaysia's transport minister later denied any crash scene had been identified.
"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 Hishamuddin Hussein told reporters near the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
"We are looking for accurate information from the Malaysian military. They are waiting for information from the Vietnamese side," he said.
On board the Boeing 777-200 are passengers from fourteen different nationalities including 152 Chinese nationals, 38 Malaysians, 12 people from Indonesia and 6 from Australia. Relatives of those on board are gathered at airports waiting to hear news about their family members.
We’ll keep you updated as this story develops.
Update 18:59:
According to the Wall Street Journal, a Vietnamese government website is reporting that search planes have spotted 2 oil slicks in the sea, 40 kilometers south of Tho Chu island off southern Vietnam.
The oil slicks, found 500m apart, could be from the jet engines of MH370, which was a twin-engine Boeing 777 jetliner.
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[Photo via Pieter van Marion]
