course to indications from radar data. Huge search Altogether forty ships and 22 planes were scouring a portion of the South China Sea on Sunday for any sign of where the flight, operated by Malaysias flagship airline, might have gone down, Malaysian authorities said. The large, multinational team is focusing its efforts near the Gulf of Thailand, part of the South China Sea that lies between several Southeast Asian countries. The area in focus, about 90 miles south of Vietnams Tho Chu Island, is the same one as where a Vietnamese search plane reportedly spotted oil slicks that stretched between six and nine miles. Malaysian authorities have not yet confirmed the report of the oil slicks, which came from Vietnams official news agency. Late Sunday afternoon, Vietnam sent a boat to investigate a strange object spotted by a Singaporean search plane in the area, said Hung Nguyen with Vietnamese National Search and Rescue Committee. As the search continues, relatives of those on board the plane continue to await news of the fate of their loved ones. Among the passengers, there were 154 people from China or Taiwan; 38 Malaysians, and three U.S. citizens. Five of the passengers were less than 5 years old. If all those on board the flight are found to have died, it will rank as the deadliest airline disaster since November 12, 2001, when American Airlines Flight 587 crashed into a New York neighborhood, killing all 260 people on board and five more on the ground.
Posted on: Sun, 09 Mar 2014 12:44:06 +0000