--- description: Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 left Kuala Lumpur and was supposed to land in Beijing, but communications went dark, the airlines said title: Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 Goes Missing image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt99a3bc4d612ce865/6986847e36176085d290ace9/160415218.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Malaysia](/tag/malaysia/) ## Malaysia Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Flight With 239 People Goes Missing by [Dan Hirschhorn](/author/dan-hirschhorn/) ## Dan Hirschhorn Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 8, 2014 1:16 AM CUT  A Malaysia Airlines aircraft at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Jan. 2013. A Malaysia Airlines aircraft at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Jan. 2013.Goh Seng Chong—Bloomberg/Getty Images by [Dan Hirschhorn](/author/dan-hirschhorn/) ## Dan Hirschhorn Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 8, 2014 1:16 AM CUT **Updated 10:35 PM ET** A Malaysia Airlines flight bound for Beijing lost contact with air traffic controllers early Saturday morning, prompting search and and rescue efforts to locate the plane. Flight MH370 left Kuala Lumpur at 12:41 a.m. local time and was supposed to land in Beijing at 6:30 a.m., but communications went dark at 2:40 a.m., the airlines said. The plane carried 227 passengers and 12 crew members — among them 153 Chinese and 38 Malaysians, according to the airlines’ [web site](http://www.malaysiaairlines.com/my/en/site/dark-site.html "undefined"). Four of the passengers were listed as being from the United States. “Our team is currently calling the next-of-kin of passengers and crew,” [said](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/malaysia-airlines-says-plane-missing "undefined") Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, the CEO of Malaysia Airlines in a statement. “Focus of the airline is to work with the emergency responders and authorities and mobilize its full support.” He also added: “Our thoughts and prayers are with all affected passengers and crew and their family members.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/16748/flight-with-239-people-goes-missing/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/16748/flight-with-239-people-goes-missing/"},"headline":"Flight With 239 People Goes Missing","datePublished":"2014-03-08T01:16:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T07:29:17.660Z","description":"Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 left Kuala Lumpur and was supposed to land in Beijing, but communications went dark, the airlines said","url":"https://time.com/16748/flight-with-239-people-goes-missing/","keywords":["Malaysia","flight","Missing","Malaysia Airlines"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt99a3bc4d612ce865/6986847e36176085d290ace9/160415218.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dan Hirschhorn","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/dan-hirschhorn/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt99a3bc4d612ce865/6986847e36176085d290ace9/160415218.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Malaysia Airlines Unveils New Aircraft Livery","caption":"Malaysia Airlines Unveils New Aircraft Livery","creditText":"Goh Seng Chong—Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/malaysia/","name":"Malaysia"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/16748/flight-with-239-people-goes-missing/","name":"Flight With 239 People Goes Missing"}}]}] ```