China Worries Over Malaysian Flight Incident

BEIJING, March 8  -- China is worried over the missing Malaysian flight scheduled to arrive in Beijing on Saturday morning, with search and rescue launched, reports Xinhua news agency.

A flight from Malaysia to Beijing has lost contact, China's Civil Aviation Administration (CAAC) confirmed Saturday.

The B777-200 aircraft departed Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur at 00:41 a.m. Saturday, and was expected to land in Beijing at 6:30 a.m. the same day, according to Malaysia Airlines.

The CAAC confirmed the flight number was MH370, which carries 239 people, including 12 crew members and about 160 Chinese passengers. So far, the flight has not contacted Chinese air traffic management department or entered China's air traffic control area.

The flight lost contact and its radar signal at 01:20 a.m. Saturday when flying over the Ho Chi Minh air traffic control area in Vietnam.

The Malaysia Airlines said on its website that the company is trying to locate the flight with emergency rescue teams.

The Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA) has formed an emergency group to deal with the incident.

The CAAC has direcred its air traffic management office to keep in touch with the Malaysian part, and ordered the BCIA to comfort relatives and friends waiting anxiously for arrival of the missing flight.

Chuang Ken Fei, a Malaysian, had waited for his two friends in the Terminal 3 of Beijing Capital International Airport for over 3 hours.

"Staff at the airport told me the flight did not take off, but I can see from my mobile application that the aircraft was in the air," Chuang said.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Saturday that the news was very disturbing.

"We hope everyone on the plane is safe," Wang said.

A press conference will be held in Beijing shortly by the Malaysia Airlines.

Yin Zhuo, a CPPCC National Committee member, said that China must enhance its search and rescue capacity on the sea, which is still not strong enough.

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