KUALA LUMPUR, 8 Mar: Malaysia Airlines (MAS) is going all-out to locate its plane that went missing on a Beijing-bound flight based on the last-known position of the aircraft before it disappeared off the radar.
MAS’ Executive, Media Relations and Strategic Communications Malini Saudranrajan said the last known position of the aircraft was 065515 North (longitude) and 1033443 East (latitude).
“Malaysia Airlines is still unable to establish any contact or determine the whereabouts of flight MH370,” she said in a statement.
She said that MAS was working with the authorities and assured that all sources were deployed to assist the search-and-rescue mission.
“Our focus now is to work with the emergency responders and authorities and mobilise our full support,” she said.
Malini said the passenger manifest would not be released until the families of all the passengers had been informed.
The flight was carrying a total number of 239 people, comprising 227 passengers, two of them infants, and 12 crew.
The statement also gave an update on the nationalities of the passengers on board, saying that five of the passengers were from including from India, clarifying the national carrier earlier statement.
This confusion arises due to the country code of Indonesia and India.
The updated passengers nationalities are of 14 different nationalities and all crew on-board are Malaysians.
Total: 239
Passengers: 227
Crew: 12
1) China/Taiwan : 153, including one infant / 1
2) Malaysia : 38
3) Indonesia : Seven
4) Australia : Six
5) India : Five
6) France : Four
7) USA : Three, including one infant
8) New Zealand : Two
9) Ukraine : Two
10) Canada : Two
11) Russian : One
12) Italy : One
13) Netherlands : One
14) Austrian : One
Malini also said that MAS had deployed its ‘Go Team’ of caregivers and volunteers to Beijing to assist the family members of the passengers.
She said the airline would provide regular updates on the situation.
Since there were many unvalidated reports out in the media, Malaysia Airlines strongly urged the media and public at large to only report from official statements from Malaysia Airlines and the Malaysian government, she said.
— BERNAMA
