(Image source from: Malaysia Airlines flight disappear with 239 people on-board})

A plane belonging to Malaysia Airlines with 239 people on-board went missing on Saturday, in the early hours. The next of kins of passengers in Flight MH370 flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing have been informed of the missing plane.

Two hours after taking off from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, the flight lost contact at 2:40am local time (1840 GMT Friday), according to the Malaysia Airlines. The plane was scheduled to land in Beijing at 6:30am local time (2230 GMT Friday).

Flight MH370 had 227 passengers, that includes two infants, along with 12 crew members. The passengers were from 13 different countries, out of which 160 passengers wereChinese, according to the China's Xinhua news agency.

An official statement of the airlines said that authorities have started a search and rescue operation to locate the missing aircraft.

The aircraft was a Boeing 777-200. The Kuala Lumpur-Beijing route of Malaysia Airlines roughly goes through the Indochinese peninsula route. Apparently, Flight MH370 had not been intercepted by China's air traffic control, reported the Chinese authorities. The plane reportedly lost all contact when it was flying over Vietnamese airspace.

Till date Malaysia Airlines (MAS) has had few plane crash. The last major accident was in 1977, when a jet plane crashed with 100 people on-board. And in October 2013, a Twin Otter aircraft, of the MASwings, crash-landed in Borneo island in Sabah state, Malaysia, which resulted in the death of a passenger and a co-pilot.

(Picture Source: hindustantimes.com)

(AW: Pratima Tigga)