A major search has been launched for a Malaysian Airlines jet with 239 people on board after it lost contact flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.The aircraft had been due to land in Beijing at 6.30am local time but at 7.54am the airline issued a statement saying it had not landed and was officially missing.
Those on board included two infants and 12 crew members.4 Americans 7 Australian passengers, 153 Chinese, 38 Malaysians, 12 Indonesians and 32 people from France.Vietnamese navy vessels were sailing to an area south of the Vietnamese Island of Phu Quoc after radar scans reportedly showed the Malaysian jet crashing there.It was hoped the naval ships, along with other vessels, would be able to reach the area before darkness fell, to increase the chances of finding any survivors or wreckage.
If the aircraft has crashed, and all the passengers and crew are killed, it would the deadliest aviation incident since November 2001.
Crying relatives of Chinese passengers on board the plane wept at Beijing airport as it became clear the jet had probably crashed.
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