Vietnamese state-run media earlier reported, citing the country's navy,
that flight MH370 Kuala Lumpur to Beijing crashed into the sea about 153
nautical miles (283 kilometers) off Vietnam's coast.
But the Vietnamese commander for the region, Navy Adm.
Ngo Van Phat, said
the location provided by state media was in fact the area where
Malaysian authorities lost contact with the plane, and the precise
location of the jet—and what happened to it—remain unknown. "We are
standing by now, waiting for orders from our leaders to launch search
and rescue operations," Adm. Phat told The Wall Street Journal. "We have
been notified by Malaysian rescue authorities that the area is about
153 miles from Vietnam's Tho Chu island. That area will be accessed
faster from Malaysia or Thailand."
Malaysian officials also say they have no information on the missing plane's location.
The plane departed from Kuala Lumpur 12:41 a.m. local time with 227
passengers and 12 crew members and was scheduled to land in Beijing at
6:30 a.m., Malaysia Airlines said in a statement.
Malaysia Airlines Chief Executive
Ahmad Jauhari Yahya told a news
conference that the airline lost contact with the aircraft between
Malaysian and Vietnamese airspace and that there were no reports of bad
weather along the route. Mr. Ahmad said the missing plane didn't send a
distress signal and had enough fuel to fly an extra two hours. Family
members of passengers on board MH370 eagerly await news of what happened
to the Boeing 777-200ER enroute to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur. The WSJ's
Wayne Ma tells us many of the passengers didn't find out the aircraft
was missing until they went to the airport to pick up loved ones.
He said the missing flight's passengers include 153 Chinese nationals,
38 Malaysians and 12 Indonesians. Passengers from Australia, the U.S.,
France, Ukraine and Canada are also on board. Asked about the fate of
the aircraft and passengers, Mr. Ahmad said: "I don't want to speculate
as search and rescue is still ongoing."
The flight normally takes six hours, beginning over water before crossing Vietnam into southern China.
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