Missing plane:Families wait for news

Friends and relatives of passengers aboard missing Malaysia Airlines plane gather in Beijing to wait for news. Paul Chapman reports.

Published

12 months ago

Categories

World

Topics

World

People

Paul Chapman

Places

Vietnam, Malaysia, Beijing, South China Sea, Kuala Lumpur

Transcript

THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3 Friends and relatives of passengers aboard the missing Malaysian Airlines plane gather in Beijing. They face a tense wait for news. Malaysia's transport minister was denying Vietnamese media reports of a crash in the South China Sea, insisting the aircraft was still missing. (SOUNDBITE) (English) MALAYSIAN TRANSPORT MINISTER, HISHAMMUDDIN HUSSEIN SAYING "There are two issues that have been raised earlier - that the plane landed in Nanming, that is not true. The second, they found wreckage in an island on the south side of Vietnam. DCA also our Foreign Office, have said that it is not true" Malaysia Airline's group chief confirmed only that contact had been lost. (SOUNDBITE)(English) GROUP CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, AHMAD JAUHARI YAHYA SAYING: "We are deeply saddened this morning with the news on MH370.. Malaysia Airlines confirms that flight MH370 lost contact with Subang Air Traffic Control at 2.40am, this morning." The missing aircraft had 227 passengers and 12 crew on board for the flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The passengers included people from 14 nations, the majority of whom were Chinese. The last contact with the plane was about two hours into its journey and Malaysia Airlines says no distress signal was given.