Oil slicks in sea may be first signs of missing jet
THE Vietnamese army said its search planes had spotted oil slicks in the sea near where a Malaysia Airlines jet carrying 239 people mysteriously vanished yesterday.
It is the first hint of the aircraft’s possible fate.
This announcement came more than 18 hours after flight MH370 slipped off radar screens somewhere between Malaysia’s east coast and southern Vietnam.
“Two of our aircraft sighted two oil slicks around 15 to 20 kilometres long, running parallel, around 500 metres apart from each other,” the army’s deputy chief-of-staff, Vo Van Tuan, told the country’s staterun television. “We are not certain where these two oil slicks may have come from, so we have sent ships to the area.”
Air search operations were halted at nightfall, though ships continued searching, the airline said.
No trace of the plane had been found as of late yesterday. The twin-engine jet had been flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, where anguished relatives were still desperately waiting for news late last night.
Everyone is sad. My house has become a place of mourning
The plane had 227 passengers — including 153 Chinese nationals — and 12 crew, according to the airline. There were also 38 Malaysians, seven Indonesians, six Australians, four French nationals, and three Americans on board.
At his house in Kuala Lumpur, Hamid Ramlan, a 56year-old Malaysian police officer, said his daughter and son-in-law were on the flight for an intended holiday in Beijing.
“My wife is crying. Everyone is sad. My house has become a place of mourning,” he said. “This is Allah’s will. We have to accept it.”
MH370 had not relayed a distress signal, indications of rough weather, or other signs of trouble, and both Malaysia’s national carrier and the Boeing 777-200 model used on the route are known for their solid safety records.
“We are looking at all possibilities but it is too soon to speculate,” said Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, when asked whether terrorism could have been a factor. He said that authorities would search “for as long as it takes”.
The plane’s disappearance triggered a search effort involving vessels from several nations with rival maritime claims in the tense South China Sea.
China, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore threw vessels and aircraft into the effort, while the US Navy confirmed it had agreed to send planes to help the search effort, including a destroyer and a maritime surveillance aircraft.
Overlapping claims to the South China Sea, a resourcerich and vital shipping lane, have been a growing source of friction between China and its neighbours.
Contact with the aircraft was lost at about 1.30am in Malaysia, about an hour after take-off from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. If the worst is confirmed, it would be only the second fatal crash ever for the widely used Boeing 777.
Malaysia Airlines has suffered few safety incidents. Its worst occurred in 1977, when 93 passengers and seven crew perished in a hijacking and crash in southern Malaysia.
Indonesia-based aviation analyst Gerry Soejatman said a “24-hour golden window” for search and rescue efforts was closing fast. — AFP