239 Passengers Missing as Jet Disappears

A MALAYSIAN AIRLINES jet carrying 239 people has gone missing.

Flight MH 370 had left Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur heading for Beijing, China, when it lost contact with air traffic control at 6.40 pm GMT on Friday.

It was carrying 227 passengers of 13 nationalities including two children as well as 12 crew members.

A company spokesman said: “Malaysia Airlines is collaborating with the authorities which have started a search to help find the plane.”

The Boeing 777-200 is said to have gone missing whilst in Vietnamese airspace.

Samples from oil slicks that were found off the Vietnamese coast and thought to be from the missing plane have tested negative and are believed to be from a ship. 

A Singaporean search vessel has told Vietnamese authorities that it has discovered “suspicious objects” that may be wreckage from the missing plane. 

Malaysia Airlines has a good safety record, although last October a two engine Twin-Otter was forced down on the Island of Borneo, with the death of the pilot and one passenger.

In 1977 another airliner crashed in southern Malaysia with the loss of 93 passengers and seven crew members.