Traces of oil may be clue in search for missing plane
The closest thing to a clue in the search for a missing commercial jetliner is traces of oil found in the ocean in the same area where contact was lost with the Malaysia Airlines flight.
A Vietnamese search plane spotted the oil while flying over the search area. The oil slicks are between 6 and 9 miles long and are suspected to be from the missing plane, the Vietnam government's official news agency reported. The traces of oil were found about 90 miles south of Tho Chu Island, the report said.
In the meantime, the search area is being expanded and efforts to locate the plane will continue overnight, said Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, director general of civil aviation in Malaysia.
Nobody knows what happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, other than air traffic controllers lost track of it not long after it left Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, on its way to Beijing.
The families and loved ones of the 239 passengers and crew aboard expected the worst as they awaited any significant development.
A woman wipes away tears as she walks out of the reception center for family and friends of passengers aboard a missing Malaysia Airlines plane at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Saturday, March 8. The plane was carrying 239 people from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing when contact was lost.
A Vietnamese Air Force plane found traces of oil in waters that authorities suspect to be from the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, the Vietnamese government online newspaper reported March 8.
A Vietnamese Air Force plane found traces of oil in waters that authorities suspect to be from the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, the Vietnamese government online newspaper reported March 8.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, center, arrives to meet family members of missing passengers at the reception center at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 8.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, center, arrives to meet family members of missing passengers at the reception center at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 8.
Malaysia Airlines official Joshua Law Kok Hwa, center, speaks to reporters in Beijing on March 8.
Malaysia Airlines official Joshua Law Kok Hwa, center, speaks to reporters in Beijing on March 8.
A relative of two passengers on the missing plane reacts at their home in Kuala Lumpur on March 8.
A relative of two passengers on the missing plane reacts at their home in Kuala Lumpur on March 8.
Wang Yue, director of marketing of Malaysia Airlines in China, reads a company statement during a press conference at the Metro Park Lido Hotel in Beijing on March 8.
Wang Yue, director of marketing of Malaysia Airlines in China, reads a company statement during a press conference at the Metro Park Lido Hotel in Beijing on March 8.
A woman in tears is helped by airport workers to a bus waiting for relatives of the missing Malaysian airliner at the international airport in Beijing on March 8.
A woman in tears is helped by airport workers to a bus waiting for relatives of the missing Malaysian airliner at the international airport in Beijing on March 8.
A woman reacts as she is surrounded by media on her arrival at a hotel which is prepared for relatives and friends of passengers aboard the missing airline in Beijing on March 8.
A woman reacts as she is surrounded by media on her arrival at a hotel which is prepared for relatives and friends of passengers aboard the missing airline in Beijing on March 8.
A woman believed to be related to a passenger aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 cries at the airport in Beijing on March 8.
A woman believed to be related to a passenger aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 cries at the airport in Beijing on March 8.
Chinese police stand beside the arrival board showing delayed Flight MH370 in red at the Beijing airport on March 8.
Chinese police stand beside the arrival board showing delayed Flight MH370 in red at the Beijing airport on March 8.
A woman asks a staff member at the Beijing airport for more information on the missing flight.
A woman asks a staff member at the Beijing airport for more information on the missing flight.
A Malaysian man who says he has relatives on board the missing plane talks to journalists at the Beijing airport on March 8.
A Malaysian man who says he has relatives on board the missing plane talks to journalists at the Beijing airport on March 8.
Passengers walk past a Malaysia Airlines sign on March 8 at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia.
Passengers walk past a Malaysia Airlines sign on March 8 at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia.
Malaysia Airlines Group CEO Ahmad Juahari Yahya, front, speaks during a press conference on March 8 at a hotel in Sepang. "We deeply regret that we have lost all contacts" with the jet, he said.
Malaysia Airlines Group CEO Ahmad Juahari Yahya, front, speaks during a press conference on March 8 at a hotel in Sepang. "We deeply regret that we have lost all contacts" with the jet, he said.
Malaysia airliner loses contact
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Map: Malaysia airliner lost contact
The area of focus has been in the South China Sea, where the Malaysian airspace and Vietnamese airspace meet.
"We have no idea where this aircraft is right now," Malaysia Airlines Vice President of Operations Control Fuad Sharuji said on CNN's "AC360."
Bits and pieces of information have begun to form, but it remains unclear how they fit into the bigger picture, if at all.
For instance, after the airline released a manifest, Austria denied that one of its citizens was onboard the flight as the list stated. The Austrian citizen was safe and sound, and his passport had been stolen two years ago, Austrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Weiss told CNN.
Similarly, Italy's foreign ministry confirmed that no Italians were onboard MH370, even though an Italian was listed on the manifest.
Police in Italy said the man's passport was stolen last year.
A U.S. intelligence official said authorities are aware of reporting about lost or stolen passports used by passengers on the missing flight.
"No nexus to terrorism yet," the official said, "although that's by no means definitive. We're still tracking."
Malaysian authorities reiterated during a news conference that they are not ruling anything out regarding the missing aircraft.
China, Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia were conducting search and rescue operations south of Tho Chu island in the South China Sea, reported Xinhua, China's official news agency. Ships, helicopters and airplanes are being utilized.
Officials appeared resigned to accepting the worst outcome.
"I'd just like to say our thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved families," Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said during a news conference.
Grief, especially in China
More than half the passengers were Chinese nationals.
Relatives of the 154 Chinese nationals on board gathered Saturday at a hotel complex in the Lido district of Beijing as a large crowd of reporters gathered outside.
"My son was only 40 years old," one woman wailed as she was led inside. "My son, my son. What am I going to do?"
Family members were kept in a hotel conference room, where media outlets had no access. Most of the family members have so far refused to talk to reporters.
The Boeing 777-200 ER departed Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 12:41 a.m. and was expected to land in Beijing at 6:30 a.m., a 2,300-mile (3,700 kilometer) trip. It never arrived.
The plane carried 227 passengers, including five children under five years old, and 12 crew members, the airline said. Air traffic control in Subang, in Malaysia, had last contact with the plane.
At the time of its disappearance, the Malaysia Airlines plane was carrying about 7.5 hours of fuel, an airline official said.
The passengers are of 14 nationalities, the airline said.
Among the passengers there were 154 people from China or Taiwan; 38 Malaysians, and three U.S. citizens.
The airline's website said the flight was piloted by a veteran.
Cap. Zaharie Ahmad Shah, a 53-year-old Malaysian, has 18,365 total flying hours and joined Malaysia Airlines in 1981, the website said. The first officer is Fariq Ab.Hamid, 27, a Malaysian with a total of 2,763 flying hours. He joined Malaysia Airlines in 2007.
Aviation experts weren't optimistic.
Pessimistic assessment
"It doesn't sound very good," retired American Airlines Capt. Jim Tilmon told CNN's "AC360." He noted that the route is mostly overland, which means that there would be plenty of antennae, radar and radios to contact the plane.
"I've been trying to come up with every scenario that I could just to explain this away, but I haven't been very successful."
He said the plane is "about as sophisticated as any commercial airplane could possibly be," with an excellent safety record.
"The lack of communications suggests to me that something most unfortunate has happened," said Mary Schiavo, former inspector general of the U.S. Department of Transportation, in an interview with CNN International.
"But that, of course, does not mean that there are not many persons that need to be rescued and secured. There's still a very urgent need to find that plane and to render aid," she said.
An Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 carrying 291 passengers struck a seawall at San Francisco International Airport in July 2013, killing three people and wounding dozens more. It's unknown if mechanical failure was involved.
Search under way
Several nations launched search and rescue efforts.
The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) has deployed one aircraft and three ships in a search-and-rescue operation following the disappearance of the plane. The Malaysian government says its navy is cooperating with the Vietnamese navy.
The USS Pinckney, a U.S. destroyer, was conducting training in the South China Sea and is being routed to the southern Vietnamese coast to aid in the search, the Navy said. The ship carries two helicopters that can be used for search and rescue purposes.
The United States is also sending a P-3C Orion aircraft from Japan to provide long-range search, radar and communications capabilities, the Navy said.
China's Xinhua news agency says the Chinese Coast Guard is sending orders to its on-duty vessels nearby to set out to the water where the plane incident likely occurred.
China sent a diving and salvaging team to the area where the airplane is suspected to have gone down, as well as a Coast Guard vessel.
Malaysia Airlines said it was working with the authorities who have activated their search and rescue team to locate the aircraft. The airline said the public can call +603 7884 1234 for further information.
Malaysia Airlines
Malaysia Airlines operates in Southeast Asia, East Asia, South Asia, the Middle East and on the route between Europe and Australasia.
It has 15 of the Boeing 777-200 ER planes in its fleet, CNN's Richard Quest reported. The missing airplane was delivered to Malaysia Airlines in 2002.
Part of the company is in the private sector, but the government owns most of it.
Malayan Airways Limited began flying in 1937 as an air service between Penang and Singapore. A decade later, it began flying commercially as the national airline.
In 1963, when Malaysia was formed, the airline was renamed Malaysian Airlines Limited.
Within 20 years, it had grown from a single aircraft operator into a company with 2,400 employees and a fleet operator.
If this aircraft has crashed with a total loss, it would the deadliest aviation incident since November 2001 when an American Airlines Airbus A300 crashed in Belle Harbor, Queens, shortly after takeoff from JFK Airport. Killed were 265 people, including five people on the ground.
