Kuala-Lumpur-Beijing flight missing

One Vietnamese rescue official announced the missing Malaysian plane's signal has been detected, according to the latest information released by Xinhua News Agency.

The official told local VNExpress that the aircraft's signal has been detected at some 120 nautical miles southwest of Vietnam's southernmost Ca Mau province.

The rough location where the missing Malaysian HM370 flight signal has been detected. [Sina]

A Malaysian passenger plane carrying 239 people lost all contact with air traffic control shortly after leaving Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur, the carrier said on earlier Saturday morning.

The B777-200 aircraft departed Kuala Lumpur at 00:41 a.m. on Saturday, and was expected to land in Beijing at 6:30 a.m. that same day.

Malaysia Airlines said it was working with the authorities who have dispatched search and rescue teams to locate the plane.

According to a statement from Malaysia Airlines, the HM370 flight was carrying a total of 227 passengers, including two infants and 12 crew members. The passengers were of 13 different nationalities.

The Flight-aware tracking program lost contact with the flight about 20 minutes after take-off as it was crossing the Malay peninsula at 35,000 feet, while the Flightradar24 program was able to track it into the South China Sea towards Vietnam before losing contact completely.

The Vietnam Subang Air Traffic Control reported it had lost contact at 2.40 a.m. today.

The HM370 flight information has been "marked red" inside Terminal 3 of Beijing Capital International Airport, its scheduled destination, on March 8, 2014, as the aircraft lost contact with air traffic control shortly after leaving Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur. [Beijing News]

China's Civil Aviation Administration (CAAC) confirmed the flight was carrying about 160 Chinese passengers and did not contact the Chinese air traffic management department or enter China's air traffic control area.

China's air control authority said there were no storms in the area of the South China Sea where the plane was flying across. The weather was generally fine with light clouds.

A VP of the Malaysia Airlines said the plane had enough fuel to fly for seven hours, one hour more than the flight time to Beijing.

The aircraft, a Boeing 777-200ER reportedly registered 9M-MRO, was delivered to the airline in May of 2002 and powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 800 engines.

The Boeing 777 was introduced in 1995. Since then, it has been involved in only two other major accidents and three hijackings.

The most notable accident occurred in July 2013, when an Asiana Airlines Boeing 777-200 carrying 291 passengers and 16 crew members crashed during landing in San Francisco, killing three passengers and seriously injuring 48 others. Investigators blamed the accident on a pilot error.

Malaysia Airlines is the national carrier of Malaysia and one of Asia's largest, flying nearly 37,000 passengers daily to some 80 destinations worldwide.

The airline said the public can call +60-378841234 for information about the plane.

A Malaysian passenger plane [File photo]