| SELL ANNUITY PAYMENT,DONATE YOUR CAR FOR KIDS, ASBESTOS LAWYERS, STRUCTURED ANNUITY SETTLEMENT, ANNUITY SETTLEMENTS, CAR INSURANCE, DONATE CARS IN MA |
|
|
It was 12.41am on Saturday – just six minutes later than scheduled – when flight MH370 took off from Kuala Lumpur and climbed steadily into the clear skies, bound north-eastwards for China.
A few minutes earlier, the 227 passengers had been settling into their seats aboard the Boeing 777 as the 12-strong crew prepared for departure.
One young man made a last-minute call telling his sister he was on board and that he would see her at the airport in Beijing. A Malaysian couple were anticipated their holiday, a longed-for break after the anguish of a miscarriage. A Chinese father had his own vacation plans but was coming home from work one day early so that he had time to take his child to the dentist.
Flight data shows the plane rising steadily to a cruising altitude of 35,000ft as it flew across Malaysia and over the Gulf of Thailand towards Vietnam. But six hours later, as friends and relatives in Beijing airport waited to greet the passengers, a single line in red topped the arrivals board. Above the yellow rows of anticipated flights and blue rows of newly landed planes ran the words: MH370 –Kuala Lumpur – 6.30am – Delayed.
Malaysian Airlines announced it had lost all contact with the plane. And as night fell over the South China Sea, ships and aircraft from five nations would still be scouring thousands of square miles of ocean for any trace of it. One possible sighting perhaps confirmed what those waiting had feared all day: one, possibly two, oil slicks near the area where the plane was last detected.
Reports – even from official sources – offer contradictory accounts as to when concerns first emerged. What is certain is that the plane vanished not long into the five-and-a-half-hour flight, hours before the alarm was raised publicly.
The most dangerous points for a flight are takeoff and landing. The airline reported that it had lost contact two hours after departure, with the plane at cruising altitude. Whatever happened to MH370 happened quickly: no distress signals were emitted and there was no other indication of difficulties.
Other sources suggest the problems set in much earlier than the airline has indicated. Online flight data for the plane halts abruptly around 20 or 40 minutes into the flight. Vietnamese aviation officials say it was due to check in with them 40 minutes after takeoff, but never did so. Its last recorded position – according to co-ordinates from the Malaysian government – was 120 nautical miles north-east of Kota Bharu, close to where the Gulf of Thailand meets the South China Sea.
Malaysia Airlines has one of the best safety records in the region; its last fatal incident was in 1995, when 34 people died in a domestic crash. Similarly, Boeing 777s have been praised by analysts for their impressive performance – unblemished by a single fatality until last year's crash at San Francisco airport, which claimed three lives.
The captain of the flight was Zaharie Ahmad Shah, a 53-year-old Malaysian with 18,000 hours' flying on his logbook after 23 years with the airline. Despite that substantial record, flying seems to have been a passion as well as a career; a Zaharie Ahmad Shah posted on several forums for flight simulation enthusiasts, on one occasion mentioning his employer as Malaysia Airlines.
The first officer, Fariq Hamid, was half Shah's age but had amassed 2,750 hours of experience since joining the airline in 2007. The 10 other members of the flight crew were also Malaysian.
But their passengers – the youngest aged two, the eldest 79 – came from 14 nations. More than 150 were Chinese; they included artists and their families, returning from a calligraphy exhibition in Kuala Lumpur. Another 38 were Malaysian. There were several Indonesians, Australians, Indians, French and US passengers on board, as well as people from other parts of Asia and Europe.
Two of their number, however, remain mysterious. The passenger manifest lists a 37-year-old Italian man named Luigi Maraldi. But Italian authorities said his passport was stolen in Thailand some time ago; although it was replaced, he was not aboard the plane.
"Mr Maraldi is now in Phuket, but somebody who used his passport died on the flight. It is something we don't understand," said Dr Francesco Pensato, Italy's honorary consul in Phuket, where Maraldi lives. He noted that it was possible there might be another person with the same name and date of birth. Shortly afterwards, the Austrian press agency said its foreign ministry had announced that an Austrian national listed on the flight was also safe and well. His passport had also been stolen in Thailand.
It is too early to know what connection, if any, the two unknown passengers have to the flight's disappearance. As the hours ticked by at Terminal 3 of Beijing airport, concerns grew among waiting friends and relatives. One told reporters that when she first asked about the non-arrival of the flight, an airline employee told her it had never taken off.
By mid-morning, a taciturn official had scrawled a
Relatives waited in a conference room for hours, without news, while rumours circulated. China's foreign minister, Wang Yi, told a press conference that the disappearance was "very disturbing".
The cruellest speculation was a rumour that the plane had made a successful emergency landing at Nanning airport in southern China. In the hours of confusion, Malaysian Airlines and officials said they were looking into the story; it was simply untrue.
As the day wore on, and hope as well as patience was stretched thin, relatives complained that no one was helping them. "There's no one from the company here; we can't find a single person," one man told Reuters. "They have just shut us in this room and told us to wait."
Malaysia Airlines, which was posting regular statements online, tweeted as the volume of complaints rose: "We understand everyone's concern on MH370 pax & crew. We're accelerating every effort with all relevant authorities to locate the aircraft."
In Kuala Lumpur, officials asked relatives to bring their documents to the airport, ready to board evening flights to Vietnam. Meanwhile, the rescue operation was swinging into action. Tensions have run high in the area in recent years, thanks to a multi-party dispute over much of the South China Sea. This time, however, neighbouring countries were drawing together to co-operate. Singapore joined Vietnamese and Malaysian teams in the search; China, too, dispatched search and rescue vessels, as did the Philippines. The US told Malaysia it would send extra support.
In the last hours of daylight, Vietnamese officials said that its air force had spotted one, perhaps two, oil slicks off the southern tip of the country, each between 10 and 15km long, and consistent with the kinds that would be produced by the fuel tanks from a crashed jetliner.
Malaysian officials said it was too soon to speculate on the fate of the craft. "Our thoughts and prayers are with those who are missing on flight MH370," said Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak. "Today all Malaysians stand in solidarity with those on flight MH370 and their loved ones."
notice on a whiteboard, telling family members that transport was provided to take them to a nearby hotel. "They want us to go to the hotel; it cannot be good," a woman said into her mobile phone as she wept.
A few minutes earlier, the 227 passengers had been settling into their seats aboard the Boeing 777 as the 12-strong crew prepared for departure.
One young man made a last-minute call telling his sister he was on board and that he would see her at the airport in Beijing. A Malaysian couple were anticipated their holiday, a longed-for break after the anguish of a miscarriage. A Chinese father had his own vacation plans but was coming home from work one day early so that he had time to take his child to the dentist.
Flight data shows the plane rising steadily to a cruising altitude of 35,000ft as it flew across Malaysia and over the Gulf of Thailand towards Vietnam. But six hours later, as friends and relatives in Beijing airport waited to greet the passengers, a single line in red topped the arrivals board. Above the yellow rows of anticipated flights and blue rows of newly landed planes ran the words: MH370 –Kuala Lumpur – 6.30am – Delayed.
Malaysian Airlines announced it had lost all contact with the plane. And as night fell over the South China Sea, ships and aircraft from five nations would still be scouring thousands of square miles of ocean for any trace of it. One possible sighting perhaps confirmed what those waiting had feared all day: one, possibly two, oil slicks near the area where the plane was last detected.
Reports – even from official sources – offer contradictory accounts as to when concerns first emerged. What is certain is that the plane vanished not long into the five-and-a-half-hour flight, hours before the alarm was raised publicly.
The most dangerous points for a flight are takeoff and landing. The airline reported that it had lost contact two hours after departure, with the plane at cruising altitude. Whatever happened to MH370 happened quickly: no distress signals were emitted and there was no other indication of difficulties.
Other sources suggest the problems set in much earlier than the airline has indicated. Online flight data for the plane halts abruptly around 20 or 40 minutes into the flight. Vietnamese aviation officials say it was due to check in with them 40 minutes after takeoff, but never did so. Its last recorded position – according to co-ordinates from the Malaysian government – was 120 nautical miles north-east of Kota Bharu, close to where the Gulf of Thailand meets the South China Sea.
Malaysia Airlines has one of the best safety records in the region; its last fatal incident was in 1995, when 34 people died in a domestic crash. Similarly, Boeing 777s have been praised by analysts for their impressive performance – unblemished by a single fatality until last year's crash at San Francisco airport, which claimed three lives.
The captain of the flight was Zaharie Ahmad Shah, a 53-year-old Malaysian with 18,000 hours' flying on his logbook after 23 years with the airline. Despite that substantial record, flying seems to have been a passion as well as a career; a Zaharie Ahmad Shah posted on several forums for flight simulation enthusiasts, on one occasion mentioning his employer as Malaysia Airlines.
The first officer, Fariq Hamid, was half Shah's age but had amassed 2,750 hours of experience since joining the airline in 2007. The 10 other members of the flight crew were also Malaysian.
But their passengers – the youngest aged two, the eldest 79 – came from 14 nations. More than 150 were Chinese; they included artists and their families, returning from a calligraphy exhibition in Kuala Lumpur. Another 38 were Malaysian. There were several Indonesians, Australians, Indians, French and US passengers on board, as well as people from other parts of Asia and Europe.
Two of their number, however, remain mysterious. The passenger manifest lists a 37-year-old Italian man named Luigi Maraldi. But Italian authorities said his passport was stolen in Thailand some time ago; although it was replaced, he was not aboard the plane.
"Mr Maraldi is now in Phuket, but somebody who used his passport died on the flight. It is something we don't understand," said Dr Francesco Pensato, Italy's honorary consul in Phuket, where Maraldi lives. He noted that it was possible there might be another person with the same name and date of birth. Shortly afterwards, the Austrian press agency said its foreign ministry had announced that an Austrian national listed on the flight was also safe and well. His passport had also been stolen in Thailand.
It is too early to know what connection, if any, the two unknown passengers have to the flight's disappearance. As the hours ticked by at Terminal 3 of Beijing airport, concerns grew among waiting friends and relatives. One told reporters that when she first asked about the non-arrival of the flight, an airline employee told her it had never taken off.
By mid-morning, a taciturn official had scrawled a
Relatives waited in a conference room for hours, without news, while rumours circulated. China's foreign minister, Wang Yi, told a press conference that the disappearance was "very disturbing".
The cruellest speculation was a rumour that the plane had made a successful emergency landing at Nanning airport in southern China. In the hours of confusion, Malaysian Airlines and officials said they were looking into the story; it was simply untrue.
As the day wore on, and hope as well as patience was stretched thin, relatives complained that no one was helping them. "There's no one from the company here; we can't find a single person," one man told Reuters. "They have just shut us in this room and told us to wait."
Malaysia Airlines, which was posting regular statements online, tweeted as the volume of complaints rose: "We understand everyone's concern on MH370 pax & crew. We're accelerating every effort with all relevant authorities to locate the aircraft."
In Kuala Lumpur, officials asked relatives to bring their documents to the airport, ready to board evening flights to Vietnam. Meanwhile, the rescue operation was swinging into action. Tensions have run high in the area in recent years, thanks to a multi-party dispute over much of the South China Sea. This time, however, neighbouring countries were drawing together to co-operate. Singapore joined Vietnamese and Malaysian teams in the search; China, too, dispatched search and rescue vessels, as did the Philippines. The US told Malaysia it would send extra support.
In the last hours of daylight, Vietnamese officials said that its air force had spotted one, perhaps two, oil slicks off the southern tip of the country, each between 10 and 15km long, and consistent with the kinds that would be produced by the fuel tanks from a crashed jetliner.
Malaysian officials said it was too soon to speculate on the fate of the craft. "Our thoughts and prayers are with those who are missing on flight MH370," said Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak. "Today all Malaysians stand in solidarity with those on flight MH370 and their loved ones."
0 comments:
Speak up your mind
Tell us what you're thinking... !