Details are still sketchy nearly three days after Malaysia flight MH370, a Boeing 777-200 that was traveling between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing, lost contact with air traffic control, and search parties from around the world have been combing the flight path, looking for clues to the missing airplane.
Accounting for crew members, 239 people were aboard the plane, which is presumed to have crashed in the South China Sea.
According to reports, officials first knew something was wrong when air traffic controllers in Kuala Lumpur lost contact with the plane less than an hour after it took off. The plane never made it to Beijing, and since then, theories have multiplied — including that the pilot turned the plane around and headed back toward Kuala Lumpur — but no evidence has been found. The pilots never contacted air traffic control with a distress signal.
Air safety organizations from around the world are at the presumed crash site to help find the wreckage. A team from the National Transportation Safety Board left the United States on Saturday, but in a release said they were only appearing in a support role.
“Once the location of the airplane is determined, International Civil Aviation Organization protocols will determine which country will lead the investigation,” according to a press release. “Because of the lengthy travel time from the United States, the NTSB has sent a team of investigators, accompanied by technical advisers from Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration, to the area so they will be positioned to offer U.S. assistance.”
Boeing has offered its support and released a short statement Saturday offering its “deepest concern to the families of those aboard missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.”
When reporting the story, news outlets have repeatedly mentioned Air France flight 447, which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in June 2009. The plane’s black boxes were not recovered until two years later, with a final crash report coming a year after that. All 228 passengers and crew aboard died.
Search continues for Malaysia Airlines flight
