Asia

MH370 search widened to the Indian Ocean

Malaysian officials have officially expanded the search for missing flight MH370 to the Indian Ocean. However, officials declined to comment on US reports that the plane had flown on for hours after losing contact. “The aircraft is still missing, and the search area is expanding,” said Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein on Friday during a press conference in Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur. “Together with our international partners, we are pushing further east into the South China […]

Search planes checking China satellite report on missing airliner

(Reuters) – Search planes were flying on Thursday to an area where a Chinese satellite has seen objects that could be debris from the Malaysian airliner missing for almost six days, but those waters had been checked before and nothing found, officials said. At the same time, China heaped pressure on Malaysia to improve its coordination over the search for the Malaysia Airlines plane, which disappeared early on Saturday on a flight from Kuala Lumpur […]

Malaysia military may have traced missing jet

(Reuters) – Malaysia’s military has traced what could have been the jetliner missing for almost five days to an area south of the Thai holiday island of Phuket, hundreds of miles to the west of its last known position, the country’s air force chief said on Wednesday. His statement followed a series of conflicting accounts of the flight path of the Boeing 777-200ER with 239 people on board, which left authorities uncertain even which ocean […]

Malaysia military source says missing jet veered to west

(Reuters) – Malaysia’s military believes a jetliner missing for almost four days turned and flew hundreds of kilometers to the west after it last made contact with civilian air traffic control off the country’s east coast, a senior officer told Reuters on Tuesday. In one of the most baffling mysteries in recent aviation history, a massive search operation for the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER has so far found no trace of the aircraft or the […]

Missing Malaysian jet may have disintegrated in mid-air: source

(Reuters) – Officials investigating the disappearance of a Malaysian jet with 239 people on board suspect it may have disintegrated in mid-flight, a senior source said on Sunday, as Vietnam reported a possible sighting of wreckage from the plane. International police agency Interpol confirmed that two passengers on the flight had used stolen Austrian and Italian passports, raising suspicions of foul play. An Interpol spokeswoman said a check of all documents used to board the […]

Malaysia Airlines missing jet: Two listed on passenger manifest not on board

(Reuters) – Two men from Austria and Italy, listed among the passengers on a missing Malaysia Airlines flight, were not in fact on board, officials in both European countries said on Saturday, and at least one of them had had his passport stolen. A passenger manifest issued by Malaysia Airlines after its plane went missing off the Vietnamese coast with 227 passengers and 12 crew included the names of Christian Kozel, 30, from Austria, and […]

Malaysia Airlines missing jet: Searchers spot oil slicks

Vietnamese rescue planes have spotted two oil slicks in the area where a Malaysia Airlines jet carrying 239 people disappeared over the South China Sea. The jet was en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The oil slicks were spotted late on Saturday off the southern tip of Vietnam by air force planes dispatched to search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 flight. “Two of our aircraft sighted two oil slicks around 15 to […]

CORRECTED-UPDATE 4-Malaysia Airlines plane missing in South China Sea with 239 people aboard – report

  (Corrects number of Indonesians, Indians onboard after airline issued new breakdown of nationalities) * Malaysia Airlines flight loses contact between 1-2 hours after takeoff * Flight failed to check in as scheduled in Vietnamese airspace * Kuala Lumpur-Beijing flight carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew * Malaysia, Vietnam and China helping in search efforts By Stuart Grudgings and Anuradha Raghu KUALA LUMPUR, March 8 (Reuters) – A Malaysia Airlines flight carrying 227 passengers and […]

Malaysia Airlines plane missing, presumed crashed in South China Sea

(Reuters) – A Malaysia Airlines flight carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew went missing over the South China Sea on Saturday, presumed crashed, as ships and planes from countries closest to its flight path scoured a large search area for any wreckage. Vietnamese state media, quoting a senior naval official, had reported that the Boeing 777-200ER flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing had crashed off south Vietnam. Malaysia’s transport minister later denied any crash scene […]