Eight countries take part in search for missing Boeing airliner

The search and rescue operation, which was launched in South China Sea where a Beijing-bound airliner Boeing-777-200 of the Malaysian Airlines Company  from Kuala Lumpur disappeared more than 48 hours ago, is being continued on Monday with the participation of air vehicles and sea-going ships of eight countries, MAC reported on Monday.

The MAC report says that despite the lack of results Malaysia is going ahead with the search and that the efforts are being coordinated by Malaysia's Department of Civil Aviation. Air vehicles or sea-going ships have been also sent to the operation area by Australia, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, and the United States.

Contact with the airliner, which was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crewmembers, was lost approximately two hours after the plane left Malaysia's capital on Friday. The airliner was flying at that moment over South China Sea at a distance of 120 nautical miles from the city of Kota-Bharu.

According to preliminary data, passengers on board were from the following countries: China 154 nationals, Malaysia 38, India 5, Indonesia 7, Australia 7, the USA 4, France 3, New Zealand, Canada, and Ukraine two from each, Russia and the Netherlands one from each.