Ndege yapotea na abiria 228

Malaysia Airlines flight carrying 239 people from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing disappeared Saturday after air traffic controllers lost contact with the plane, the airline said.

“At the moment we have no idea where this aircraft is right now,” Malaysia Airlines Vice President of Operations Control Fuad Sharuji said on CNN’s “AC360.”

Subang Air Traffic Control lost contact with Flight MH370 at about 2:40 a.m. local time (1:40 p.m. ET Friday), Sharuji said.

A group of Malaysian residents pose after lighting candles during a vigil for missing Malaysia Airlines passengers at the Independence Square in Kuala Lumpur

“We tried to call this aircraft through various means,” he said. The airline checked reports that the jet had landed in several places, but determined that none of the reports was true, he said.
The Boeing 777-200 departed Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 12:41 a.m. and was expected to land in Beijing at 6:30 a.m., a 2,300-mile (3,700 kilometer) trip. It was carrying 227 passengers, two of them infants, and 12 crew members, the airline said.

At the time of its disappearance, the plane was carrying about 7.5 hours of fuel, Sharuji said.

The passengers are of 13 nationalities, the airline said. They were from China and Taiwan (154), Malaysia (38), Indonesia (12), Australia (7), France (3), United States (4), New Zealand (2), Ukraine (2), Canada (2), Russia (1), Italy (1), Netherlands (1), Austria (1).

One infant from the United States and another from China were included in the tally.

By CNN’s math, that adds up to 228 passengers, one more than the total cited by the airline. There was no immediate explanation offered.

“Malaysia Airlines is currently working with the authorities who have activated their Search and Rescue team to locate the aircraft,” the statement said. The public can call +603 7884 1234 for further information.

“We deeply regret that we have lost all contacts” with the jet, said CEO Ahmad Juahari Yahya in a statement.

Efforts to contact the plane in the hours after it disappeared were fruitless. China deployed two rescue ships in the South China Sea to begin a search, state-run broadcaster CCTV said.

Family and friends of those missing on the flight gathered at a hotel complex in the Lido district of Beijing. People were being led in through a throng of reporters, with those friends and relatives saying nothing to the media.

One woman had her hand to her face. As the door opened, a man inside looked anxious as he talked on a cell phone.

The airline’s website said the flight was piloted by Cap. Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53, a Malaysian. 

He has 18,365 total flying hours and joined Malaysia Airlines in 1981, the website said. The first officer is Fariq Ab.Hamid, 27, a Malaysian with a total of 2,763 flying hours. He joined Malaysia Airlines in 2007.