Malaysia
MH370 disappearance over water may hamper search
MH 370 timeline. u00e2u20acu201d The Malay Mail Online

KUALA LUMPUR, March 8 — The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 somewhere over the waters in the Gulf of Thailand may be why search and rescue efforts have yet to yield results nearly eight hours after the plane would have run out of fuel.

Large spans of water can often swallow up all traces of wreckage, making it nearly impossible to locate missing planes.

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In the case of Air France flight AF447 that went missing en route from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Paris in June 2009, the wreckage was not found until near two years later in May 2011.

The missing aircraft is a Boeing 777-2H6 and is equipped with two emergency locator transmitters (ELT) that transmits distress beacons to guide rescue and search efforts.

The beacons have an effective range of 250 miles (400km).

MAS earlier said it has yet to receive any distress signal from the missing plane.

MH370 lost contact two hours after it took off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 12.41am today and did not arrive at the Beijing International Airport where it was supposed to have landed at 6.30am.

MAS said it had enough fuel to stay in the air until 8.30am.

Vietnamese media reported this afternoon that the plane had crashed near Tho Chu Island but Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said the report was unverified.

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