Malaysia Airlines Jet Vanishes

[ASTalumna06]

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/id...40308?irpc=932

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - A Malaysia Airlines flight carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing went missing over the South China Sea on Saturday, prompting China to send ships to scour the water for possible wreckage.

The airline, speaking several hours after the plane had been due to land in the Chinese capital, said it was still too early to say whether the aircraft had crashed. It said there had been no distress signal and it cited early speculation that the plane may have landed in Nanming in southern China.

As news of the disappearance filtered through to distraught friends and relatives who had been waiting for the flight to arrive in Beijing, Malaysia Airlines said it was still investigating and took no questions at a brief news conference.

How horrible Hoping that they find the plane in one piece!

Thoughts are with the families of all those on board the flight.

[unarose]

Via @cctvnews on Twitter:

Vietnamese Navy confirms that flight MH370 crashed into sea near Tho Chu Island in Kien Giang Province, Vietnam #BREAKING (People's Daily)

And from tuoitrenews.vn, there's this:

According to a High Command of Navy statement, the plane went down at the waters between Vietnam and Malaysia, some 153 nautical miles (300km) off Tho Chu Island in Kien Giang Province.


The Naval Zone 5 is ready for the search and rescue mission.


There were no immediate reports of casualty.


The flight MH370 disappeared at 2:40 am local time (1840 GMT Friday), about two hours after leaving Kuala Lumpur International Airport, according to AFP. It had been due to arrive in Beijing at 6:30 am local time (2230 GMT Friday).


It was carrying 227 passengers, including two infants, from 13 different nationalities, and 12 crew members. China's state television said 158 of the passengers were Chinese.

The official Malaysia Airlines page for the incident is here. According to them there were actually 14 nationalities represented on board.

[pinapple]

So very sad. Three Americans on board including an infant. I suspect a little family of three

[AGDee]

The manifest is posted on the Malaysian Airlines site. Those identified as USA are (the number is their age):
MENG/NICOLECHD USA 4
WOOD/PHILIP USA 51
ZHANG/YAN USA 2

It doesn't appear that they are all from the same family. I would guess that the children are children of Chinese nationals who live and work in the US so they were born in the US.

[moe.ron]

The plot thickens:

Uncertainly over the fate of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was further compounded Saturday by reports that two men whose names matched those on the passenger manifest had reported their passports stolen.

Malaysian authorities apparently did not check the stolen documents on an international law enforcement agency database, CNN has learned.
After the airline released a manifest of the 239 people on the plane, Austria denied that one of its citizens was on the flight as the list had stated. The Austrian citizen was safe and sound, and his passport had been stolen two years ago, Austrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Weiss said.
Similarly, Italy's foreign ministry confirmed that no Italians were on the flight, even though an Italian was listed on the manifest. Malaysian officials said they were aware of reports that the Italian's passport was also stolen but had not confirmed it.

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/03/08/wo...html?hpt=hp_t1

[PM_Mama00]

Originally Posted by AGDee

The manifest is posted on the Malaysian Airlines site. Those identified as USA are (the number is their age):
MENG/NICOLECHD USA 4
WOOD/PHILIP USA 51
ZHANG/YAN USA 2

It doesn't appear that they are all from the same family. I would guess that the children are children of Chinese nationals who live and work in the US so they were born in the US.

I just read that Philip Wood is from Livonia.

[IndianaSigKap]

This entire story is getting more convoluted by the day.

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by PM_Mama00

I just read that Philip Wood is from Livonia.

?

I believe he's from Texas, outside of Fort Worth.

ETA:
http://news.yahoo.com/american-fathe...205115030.html

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by PM_Mama00

I just read that Philip Wood is from Livonia.

Closest thing I've seen to that was an interview with a former IBM co-worker who is now in the "Detroit area".

[PM_Mama00]

Originally Posted by ASTalumna06

?

I believe he's from Texas, outside of Fort Worth.

ETA:
http://news.yahoo.com/american-fathe...205115030.html

Originally Posted by AGDee

Closest thing I've seen to that was an interview with a former IBM co-worker who is now in the "Detroit area".

Yeah I'm sorry. He was from Texas but they interviewed his friend that lives in Livonia. I got that confused.

[ASTalumna06]

The biggest mysteries of the missing plane:

http://abcnews.go.com/International/...y?id=22838958#

I've read on multiple sites that they're looking into 4 IDs being questionable. Two of them are the stolen passports mentioned above (by moe.ron), but it doesn't appear that details have been released about the other two suspicious passengers/IDs.

[ASTalumna06]

This story is driving me crazy! Every time I think they've found something, someone says, "No, nevermind.. it was nothing."

I just came across this story that said they may have found a door to the missing jet… but I searched for other sites reporting the same thing, and they say the story regarding the door has been discounted.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/03...ing-23-people/

Something of interest, though:

European authorities on Saturday confirmed the names and nationalities of the two stolen passports: One was an Italian-issued document bearing the name Luigi Maraldi, the other Austrian under the name Christian Kozel. Police in Thailand said Maraldi's passport was stolen on the island of Phuket last July.

A telephone operator on a China-based KLM hotline on Sunday confirmed to The Associated Press that "Maraldi" and "Kozel" were both booked to leave Beijing on a KLM flight to Amsterdam on March 8. Maraldi was then to fly to Copenhagen, Denmark, on KLM on March 8, and Kozel to Frankfurt, Germany, on March 8.

She said since the pair booked the tickets through China Southern Airlines, she had no information on where they bought them. The ticket purchases reportedly took place almost simultaneously, and the tickets were numbered consecutively, according to the BBC.

[ASTalumna06]

Oil slicks not from missing jet:

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/mis...ors-say-n48826

[DubaiSis]

We're dealing with 3 countries who are not big on sharing bad news. Unless they find some verifiable good news, don't expect much information.

[KSUViolet06]

I seriously cannot watch the coverage.

It freaks me out like an Unsolved Mysteries episode.

Like, I can hear the creepy theme/opening music in my head.

Well, that, and I cannot understand how no one knows anything about a PLANE CARRYING ALMOST 300 PEOPLE.