China, Malaysia, and Vietnam appear to have activated search and rescue assets to locate a Malaysia Airlines 777-200ER that disappeared while operating on the Kuala Lumpur-Beijing route on 8 March.
A report by official state news agency Xinhua said “emergency mechanisms” from the three countries had been launched.
Xinhua says that of the 227 passengers on the aircraft, 160 were Chinese nationals.
“We are very worried after learning the news. We are trying to get in touch with relevant parties to check it out," the report quotes Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang as saying.
Separately, Boeing issued a statement to Flightglobal about the situation: "We're closely monitoring reports on Malaysia flight MH370. Our thoughts are with everyone on board."
Flight 370 lost contact with Subang Air Traffic Control in Malaysia around
It departed with 227 passengers and 12 crew members at
In a revised statement, the carrier said it is also reaching out to next-of-kin and relatives.
The aircraft is identified by the Aviation Herald as 9M-
Flightglobal’s Ascend Online database says it was built in 2002 and powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 800 engines
The aircraft had reportedly accumulated 53,460h and 7,525 flights during 12 years of service with MAS.
Story updated to include revised hours and cycles data.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
