No Singaporeans on board missing Malaysia Airlines flight, says MAS

A man stands beside the arrival board showing the flight MH370 (top-red) at the Beijing Airport after news of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200 plane disapeared on March 8, 2014. -- PHOTO: AFP
A man stands beside the arrival board showing the flight MH370 (top-red) at the Beijing Airport after news of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200 plane disapeared on March 8, 2014. -- PHOTO: AFP

A Beijing-bound Malaysian Airlines flight which disappeared early Saturday morning had no Singaporeans on board, the airline has confirmed.

The plane was carrying 239 passengers and crew.

Close to 12 hours after the plane took off from Kuala Lumpur, there is still no confirmation on its location.

MAS said in a statement that the passengers were of 14 different nationalities. More than six in 10 were China nationals. There were also 38 Malaysians and 12 Indonesians on board.

The rest of the passengers were from Australia, France, America, New Zealand, Ukraine, Canada, Russia, Italy, Taiwan, Netherlands and Austria.

MAS' chief executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said: "There has been speculation that the aircraft has landed at Nanming. We are working to verify the authenticity of the report and others."

The flight was piloted by Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, a Malaysian aged 53. He has a total flying hours of 18,365 hours. He joined Malaysia Airlines in 1981.

First officer, Fariq Ab.Hamid, a Malaysian, is aged 27.

He has a total flying hours of 2,763 hours. He joined Malaysia Airlines in 2007.

Mr Ahmad said: "Our focus now is to work with the emergency responders and authorities and mobilise its full support. Our thoughts and prayers are with all affected passengers and crew and their family members."

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