SEPANG, March 8 — Putrajaya has dismissed criticisms that local authorities had taken their time to report the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, saying they had done their best to handle the situation.
Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein pointed out that the Boeing B777-200 aircraft was carrying enough fuel onboard to last the journey at the time when it was detected missing from radar.
“Secondly, for us to work with all the agencies in the space of how many hours... and also, the countries involved and the missions.
“The fact that we are meeting today after 2pm, coordinating with all the missions, the agencies and giving information as fast as we can to the public — I think its the best we can do at the moment,” he told a press conference at the Sama-Sama Hotel in the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).
Earlier shortly before 8am this morning, MAS confirmed that Subang Air Traffic Control lost contact with the Boeing B777-200 plane at 2.40am, some two hours after the Beijing-bound aircraft departed from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) at 12.41am.
The plane was scheduled to arrive at Beijing at 6.30am local time.
According to MAS group chief executive officer Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, there were a total of 14 nationalities onboard the plane and a total of 227 passengers, and 12 crew members.
This includes 153 Chinese nationals including one infant, 38 Malaysians, seven Indonesians, seven Australians, five Indians, three French nationals, four from the US including one infant, two from New Zealand, two Canadians, two Russians, one Italian, one Taiwanese, one from Netherlands and one Austrian.
Jauhari said the family members of those onboard the missing flight are being contacted.
A search and rescue mission has also been mounted, involving both Malaysian and Vietnamese officials.
The plane reportedly fell off the radar when it was 120 nautical miles off the coast of Kota Baru, somewhere near the South China Sea.
