Missing Malaysia Airlines plane ‘crashes off Vietnam’

A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 has reportedly crashed into the sea off Vietnam with 239 people on board. State media there says the aircraft came down near Vietnam’s Tho Chu Island. Malaysian authorities have not yet confirmed the crash and say no wreckage has been found. A search is underway. Contact was lost two hours into the flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing where relatives faced an agonising wait after Flight 370 was shown to be delayed on the arrivals board. Most of those travelling on the flight were Chinese and Malaysian but passengers were of 14 nationalities, among them Australians, Americans and French citizens. If the crash is confirmed, it would mark the second fatal accident involving a Boeing 777 in less than a year.