KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia [Peter Paul Media] — A Malaysia Airlines jetliner flying from Malaysia to Beijing, China, Saturday vanished shortly after take-off with 227 passengers and 12 crew members aboard, the airline confirmed in a statement.
Air traffic control lost contact with the plane in the early morning hours Saturday off the coast of Vietnam. “The last known position of MH370 before it disappeared off the radar was 065515 North (longitude) and 1033443 East (latitude),” the airline said.
“An international search and rescue mission was mobilized this morning. At this stage, our search and rescue teams from Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam have failed to find evidence of any wreckage.”
Flight MH370 departed Kuala Lumpur just after 12:30 a.m. Saturday and was expected to arrive in Beijing at 6:30 a.m. Passengers from 14 nationalities—made up of mostly Chinese and Malaysian nationals—were aboard the Boeing 777, a flight manifest obtained by Peter Paul Media said.
Two Canadians were on the missing plane. They were later identified as Xiaomo Bai, 37, and Muktesh Mukherjee, 42.
“My thoughts and prayers are with the family members of flight #MH370. I’ve asked all measures possible to be taken,” said Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak on his Facebook page.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said they were monitoring the situation closely, a statement on Twitter said.
Boeing, the aircraft’s manufacturer, said they were assembling a team to assist investigators with the incident. “Boeing offers it deepest concern to the families of those aboard missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370,” the manufacturer said.
No distress calls were received prior to the plane disappearing and no aircraft debris belonging to MH370 has been located at press time.
Peter Paul Media 