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Malaysia Airlines says it has lost contact with a plane travelling from Kuala Lumpur
to Beijing, with 239 people on board. The airline said in a statement that flight
MH370 disappeared at 02:40 local time on Saturday (18:40 GMT on Friday).
It had been expected to land in Beijing at 06:30 (22:30 GMT).
The plane went off the radar in Vietnamese airspace, according to a statement on the
Vietnamese government website. Its last known location was south of Vietnam's
Ca Mau peninsular although the exact position was not clear, it said.
Malaysia Airlines said it was "currently working with the authorities who have activated their
search and rescue team to locate the aircraft". "Our team is currently calling the next-of-kin
of passengers and crew." The Boeing B777-200 aircraft was carrying
227 passengers, including two children, and 12 crew members.
In a brief press conference on Saturday, Malaysia Airlines chief executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya
said the company was still working to establish the location of the plane.
He said it was looking into various conflicting reports including earlier speculation that
the aircraft had landed at Nanming in southern China.
He said the company was "deeply saddened" at the situation and that it would provide
regular updates. 'Very worried'
The passengers were of 14 different nationalities, he added.
Among them were 152 Chinese nationals, 38 Malaysians, 12 people from Indonesia and seven
from Australia. The pilot was Capt Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53,
who joined Malaysia Airlines in 1981, Mr Yahya said.
The flight went missing two hours after taking off from Kuala Lumpur.
The aircraft did not enter airspace controlled by China and did not make contact with Chinese
controllers, China's state-run Xinhua news agency said.
A statement on the Vietnamese government website said the plane had briefly entered the country's
airspace before the signal was lost. It said crew had not made contact with Vietnamese
air traffic control since. The arrivals board at Beijing International
Airport is showing no expected arrival time, reports the BBC's John Sudworth at the terminal.
Our correspondent says there do not appear to be many relatives of the passengers in
the arrivals lounge, possibly because they have already been taken away to be looked
after.