Two Vietnamese vessels HQ 954 and HQ 637 from the Naval Zone 5 based in the southern province of Kien Giang left Phu Quoc Island at 3:30pm on March 8 to search for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet.

The plane likely descended in a water area bordering with Malaysia , over 150 nautical miles to the south of Tho Chu Island, Phu Quoc district.

The vessels are expected to arrive at the area in the next 15 hours.
Earlier on 2:20pm, a vessel coded 2001 from the naval police zone 4 departed from Phu Quoc. It is scheduled to arrive at the scene at 7:00pm the same day for search.

The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200 took off from Malaysia ’s capital Kuala Lumpur and was scheduled to land in Beijing , China at 6:30 on March 8 (local time).

Malaysia Airlines General Director Ahmad Jauhari Yahya told a press conference on March 8 that it lost contact with the Subang Air Traffic Control at 02:40 (local time) on March 8.

It was reported that at least 14 nationalities were among the 227 passengers and 12 crew members on board the missing plane.-VNA