中国领导人批示失联航班事件

Reporter: The missing flight MH370 left the Malaysian capital at 12:41 a.m. Beijing time on Saturday, and was expected to land in Beijing at 6:30 a.m. the same day.

The missing plane was a Boeing 777-200 model and took its first flight on May 14, 2002. Malaysia Airlines has 15 such models in its fleet.

Contact with the flight was lost at 1:20 a.m. Beijing time when it was flying over the Ho Chi Minh air traffic control area in Vietnam.

China's Civil Aviation Administration has confirmed the incident.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi has also expressed his concerns at a press conference on the sidelines of the annual session of the National People's Congress. He says the news is very disturbing.

"The Foreign Ministry and relevant diplomatic and consular missions of China have activated an emergency mechanism. We are doing all we can to get more details. Once we have some information, we will get it out for you immediately."

China's Ministry of Transport is now closely observing the incident and actively coordinating with domestic authorities as well as maritime rescue authorities and civil aviation administrations in Malaysia and Vietnam.

Meanwhile, Malaysia's Transport Minister Hishamuddin Hussein said no sign of crash has been found of the missing plane.

The latest statement from Malaysia Airlines says the company is working with international authorities on the search and rescue mission of the flight.

Malaysian authorities have also dispatched a search and rescue team, and the Philippines said it was sending three navy patrol boats and a surveillance plane to help efforts.

For CRI, I'm XYee.