Still no sign of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370

Kuala Lumpur: Vietnamese search parties worked throughout the night but have not been able to find an object spotted Sunday afternoon. The object was thought to be one of the doors of the Malaysia Airlines passenger jet that went missing last Saturday. There's still no sign of the missing aircraft and chances of finding survivors become smaller every day.

The accident

The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200, registration 9M-MRO operating flight MH-370 from Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) to Beijing (China), with 227 passengers and 12 crew members, was en-route at 350 feet over the Gulf of Thailand. The aircraft was in contact with Subang Center (Malaysia) when the connection was reported lost at around 02:40 local time (18:40 Mar 7th). The pilot purportedly turned the plane around without reporting it to air traffic control. There was no sign of adverse weather.

Passengers of the flight

During a press conference, the airline pointed out that the last contact with the aircraft had been about 160nm northeast of Kota Bharu (Malaysia), over the Gulf of Thailand. The aircraft was piloted by an experienced captain (53 of age, 18,365 flight hours) and a first officer (27 of age, 2,763 hours total). The aircraft carried 153 Chinese citizens, 38 Malaysians, 12 Indonesians, 7 Australians, 3 Frenchmen, 4 US citizens, 1 Italian, 1 Taiwanese, 1 Dutchman, 1 Austrian, 2 New Zealanders, 2 Ukrainians, 2 Canadians and 1 Russian. However, two unknown passengers, who had checked in with stolen passports, were also aboard the aircraft. At the moment it is still unclear if they were actively involved in the accident.

The Search continues

Malaysia Airlines has confirmed the aircraft is still missing. A search and rescue operation has been initiated and at 40 ships and 34 aircraft/helicopters are currently looking for signs of the plane. Search parties from Malaysia, China, Vietnam, Singapore, Australia, Indonesia, Thailand and the US are scanning 10000 square kilometres. The chances of finding any survivors are very small.

Written by: Team Flight-Delayed.com