>> Contact lost with Malaysia Air plane carrying 239 people
Hien said his unit deployed all on-duty officers and readied two vessels for the rescue immediately after receiving information from the National Committee for Search and Rescue on the morning of March 8 that a Malaysia Airlines jet carrying 239 people from Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) to Beijing (China) lost contact about 120 nautical miles southwest of Cape Ca Mau, the southernmost point in Vietnam.
Two aircraft from the Air Defence - Air Force Service are prepared to aid any rescue mission once the location of the missing plane is detected, said Col Pham Van Ty, deputy director of the Rescue Department under the Ministry of National Defence.
The department has urged the Vietnam Maritime Search and Rescue Co-ordination Centre (MRCC) to transmit an announcement to all vessels operating near the area so that they can join the rescue if necessary, he stated.
The centre has been asked to co-ordinate with the Consular Department of the Foreign Ministry and units under the Defence Ministry in instructing on-duty vessels to follow Malaysia’s search and rescue activities and stand ready to take part in the mission, he added.
According to the MRCC, a Malaysian Airlines passenger Boeing 777-200 left Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 16:42 UTC on March 7 (23:42 Vietnam time).
At 17:21 UTC (00:21 on March 8 Vietnam time), the plane lost contact with the Subang Air Traffic Control at 06 o 56’N – 103 o 35’E over Malaysian waters, 120 nautical miles southwest of Vietnam’s Cape Ca Mau and 25 nautical miles south of the Vietnam-Malaysia overlapping sea borderline.
There were 227 passengers and 12 crewmembers on board, hailing from 13 countries. 158 of the passengers were Chinese.
Malaysia has sent low-range aircraft to conduct a search and rescue mission.
The flight was carrying 239 people on board. (Credit: AFP)
