Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (MH370/MAS370[a]),

also marketed as China Southern Airlines Flight 748

(CZ748) through a codeshare, was a
scheduled international passenger flight from Kuala
Lumpur International Airport to Beijing Capital
International Airport (a distance of 4,399 kilometres
(2,733 mi)). On 8 March 2014, the aircraft flying the
route, a Boeing 777-200ER, went missing less than
an hour after takeoff. Operated by Malaysia
Airlines (MAS), the aircraft carried 12 crew members
(all Malaysian nationals) and 227 passengers from
14 nations.
A joint search and rescue effort, later reported as the
largest in history,[2] was initiated in the Gulf of
Thailand and the South China Sea.[3][4] The search
area was later extended to include the Strait of
Malacca, Andaman Sea, and the Indian Ocean.[5][6]
[7]
On 15 March, investigators believed that the
aircraft had first headed west back across the Malay
Peninsula, then continued on a northern or southern
track for approximately seven hours.[8]
Two satellite images taken on 16 and 18 March
showed potential aircraft debris in the southern
Indian Ocean southwest of Western Australia,[9][10]
[11]
prompting increased search activity in the area.[12]
[13]
Since 22 March, there have been almost daily

sightings of marine debris in the search area made

by various countries' satellites.[9][10][11][14] However,
none of the photographed objects has been
confirmed as belonging to the missing aircraft.
[15]
Revised estimates of the flight's remaining fuel for
its untracked route after losing radar contact, caused
on 28 March a move of the search area to 1,100
kilometres (680 mi) north-east of the previous
search area.[15]
On 24 March, the Malaysian government confirmed
analyses by the British Air Accidents Investigation
Branch (AAIB) and Inmarsat and concluded "beyond
any reasonable doubt" that the aircraft had gone
down in the southern Indian Ocean with no
survivors.[16][17][18] On 29 March 2014, the
Government of Malaysia and the AAIB stated that, in
accordance with the protocols detailed
in International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)
Annex 13 concerning aircraft accident investigation,
an international team will investigate the loss of the
flight.[1
Disappearance[edit]
The flight departed from Kuala Lumpur International
Airport on 8 March 2014 at 00:41 local
time (16:41 UTC, 7 March) and was scheduled to
land at Beijing Capital International Airport at

06:30local time (22:30 UTC, 7 March). It climbed to

its assigned cruise altitude of 35,000 feet (11,000 m)
and was travelling at 471 knots (872 km/h;
542 mph) true airspeed[citation needed] when it ceased all
communications and the transponder signal was
lost. The aircraft's last known position on 8 March at
01:21 local time (17:21 UTC, 7 March)
was 65515N 1033443E, corresponding to the
navigational waypoint IGARI in the Gulf of Thailand,
at which the aircraft was due to alter its course
slightly eastward.[21] Military tracking shows that the
aircraft descended as low as 12,000 feet (3,700 m)
after taking a sharp turn toward the Strait of
Malacca. The sharp turn seemed to be intentional as
normally it would have taken two minutes for the
aircraft to make such a turn, and during that time
there was no emergency call.[22]
The crew was expected to contact air traffic control
in Ho Chi Minh City as the aircraft passed into
Vietnamese airspace just north of the point where
contact was lost.[23][24] The captain of another aircraft
attempted to reach the crew of Flight 370 "just after
1:30 a.m." to relay Vietnamese Air Traffic Control's
request for the crew to contact it; the captain said he
was able to establish contact, and just heard
"mumbling" and static.[25]

Malaysia Airlines (MAS) issued a media statement at

07:24, one hour after the scheduled arrival of the
flight at Beijing, stating that contact with the flight
had been lost by Malaysian ATC at 02:40. MAS
stated that the government had initiated search and
rescue operations.[26] It later emerged that Subang
Air Traffic Control had lost contact with the aircraft at
01:22 and notified Malaysia Airlines at 02:40. Neither
the crew nor the aircraft's onboard communication
systems relayed a distress signal, indications of bad
weather, or technical problems before the aircraft
vanished from radar screens.[27][28] The last words
that Malaysian air traffic controllers heard were
originally reported to be those of the co-pilot saying,
"All right, good night".[29] On 31 March Hishamuddin
Hussein, the acting Transport Minister of Malaysia,
wrote on Twitter that the words that were actually
heard were "Good night, Malaysian three seven
zero", but could not confirm whose voice it was.[30]