Straight from CNN:-
(CNN) -- Nobody knows exactly what happened to a Malaysian Airlines plane that disappeared Saturday, but families of the 239 people on board are waiting and expecting the worst.
Air traffic controllers lost track of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 not long after it left Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, on its way to Beijing. More than half the passengers were Chinese nationals.
"We have no idea where this aircraft is right now," Malaysia Airlines Vice President of Operations Control Fuad Sharuji said on CNN's "AC360."
There's even confusion about where the plane might have gone down
.
Vietnamese and Chinese state media, both citing Vietnam's military, reported the plane crashed off the southern coast of Vietnam.
But the reports are incorrect, said Malaysia's acting transport minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein. "The CA (Civil Aviation Authority) says that is not true, and our foreign office says it is not true," he said.
Later, China's state-run CCTV reported that Vietnam's National Search and Rescue Center said the missing plane might have crashed at the overlapping waters between Malaysia and Vietnam.
China, Vietnam, Singapore, and Malaysia are conducting search and rescue operations south of Tho Chu island in the South China Sea, reported Xinhua, China's official news agency. Ships, helicopters and airplanes are being utilized.
Grief, especially in China
Relatives of the 154 Chinese nationals on board gathered Saturday at a hotel complex in the Lido district of Beijing as a large crowd of reporters gathered outside.
Family members are kept in a hotel conference room, where media outlets have no access. Most of the family members have so far refused to talk to reporters.
The Boeing 777-200 departed Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 12:41 a.m. and was expected to land in Beijing at 6:30 a.m., a 2,300-mile (3,700 kilometer) trip. It never arrived.
The plane carried 227 passengers, two of them infants, and 12 crew members, the airline said. Air traffic control in Subang, in Malaysia, had last contact with the plane.
At the time of its disappearance, the Malaysian Airlines plane was carrying about 7.5 hours of fuel, an airline official said.
The passengers are of 13 nationalities, the airline said. Nationalities and the number for each of passengers on the flight were:
-- China (includes Taiwan), 154
-- Malaysia, 38
-- India, 5
-- Indonesia, 7
-- Australia, 6
-- United States, 3
-- France, 4
-- New Zealand, 2
-- Ukraine, 2
-- Canada, 2
-- Russia, 1
-- Italy, 1
-- Netherlands, 1
-- Austria, 1
One infant from the United States and another from China were included in the tally.
The airline's website said the flight was piloted by a veteran.
Cap. Zaharie Ahmad Shah, a 53-year-old Malaysian, has 18,365 total flying hours and joined Malaysia Airlines in 1981, the website said. The first officer is Fariq Ab.Hamid, 27, a Malaysian with a total of 2,763 flying hours. He joined Malaysia Airlines in 2007.
"Aviation experts weren't optimistic."