KUALA LUMPUR, March 8 (PNA/Xinhua) — Malaysian transport authorities said that no signs had been found that a Malaysia Airlines flight, carrying 239 passengers and crew had crashed, Transport Minister Hishamuddin Hussein said here Saturday.
He said no sign of any plane wreckage was found and denied earlier media reports that the plane had crashed south of an island off Vietnam.
“We are doing everything in our power to locate the plane, and doing everything we can to ensure every possible angle has been addressed,” Hishamuddin told reporters near the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
“We are looking for accurate information from the Malaysian military. They are waiting for information from the Vietnamese side.”
Meanwhile, the Malaysia Airlines said in a latest statement that the company is working with international authorities on the search and rescue mission of its flight MH370 that went missing on Saturday morning with 239 people on board.
“Our team is currently calling family members of passengers to keep them updated on the situation and our focus now is to work with the emergency responders and the authorities. We are sending a MH team to support the families of passengers in Beijing. The airline will continue to publish regular updates on the situation.
Flight MH 370, operating a Boeing B777-200 aircraft, departed Kaula Lumpur at 0:21 a.m. local time (1621GMT) and was expected to land in the Chinese capital at 6:30 a.m.(2230GMT) the same day.
The flight was piloted by Captain Zahaire Ahmad Shah, a Malaysian aged 53. he has a total flying hours of 18,365 hours. He joined Malaysia Airlines in 1981.
Fariq Ab. Hamid, 27, also a Malaysian, served as the first officer of the flight. With a total flying hours of 2.763, he joined Malaysian Airlines in 1981, the airlines said.
Earlier, Vietnam’s Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper quoted Rear Admiral Ngo Van Phat, political commissar of the Fifth Naval Region as saying that the missing aircraft had crashed into waters off Vietnam’s southern Phu Quoc Island. The allegation was denied by the Malaysian authorities.(PNA/Xinhua)