A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 has reportedly crashed into the sea off Vietnam with 239 people on board.<br /><br />It took off from Kuala Lumpur and was bound for Beijing.<br /><br />Vietnamese State media has reported that the aircraft came down near Tho Chu Island. Malaysian authorities have not yet confirmed the crash and say no wreckage has been found. A huge search is underway.<br /><br />Contact was lost two hours into the flight and anxious relatives at Beijing airport were initially told it had been delayed before confirmation came that it was missing.<br /><br />The plane disappeared without giving a distress signal – a<br />chilling echo of an Air France flight that crashed into the<br />South Atlantic on June 1, 2009, killing all 228 people on board. It vanished for hours without issuing a distress call.<br /><br />The vast majority of those on board Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 were Chinese but passengers were of 14 nationalities, among them Malaysians, Australians, Americans and French citizens.<br /><br />If the crash is confirmed, it would mark the second fatal accident involving a Boeing 777 in less than a year.
