By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Mar. 8, 2014 – The U.S. Navy is contributing to
the international search effort for a Malaysia Airlines jet that dropped off
the radar of Subang, Indonesia, traffic controllers early Saturday morning
while over the South China Sea, according to a statement from the U.S. Seventh
Fleet public affairs office.
Flight MH370, a Boeing 777-200 aircraft, departed Kuala
Lumpur at 12:41 a.m. Saturday local time and was scheduled to land at Beijing
International Airport at 6:30am Beijing time. The flight has 227 passengers
from 14 nations, mainly China, and 12 crewmembers. According to the Malaysia
Airlines website, three Americans were also aboard.
Today, the USS Pinckney, an Arleigh Burke-class guided
missile destroyer homeported in San Diego, was dispatched to the southern coast
of Vietnam to join teams from Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam in search and
rescue efforts already underway, according to the Malaysia Airlines website.
Pinckney was conducting training and maritime security
operations in international waters of the South China Sea. The ship could be in
vicinity of the missing jet within 24 hours and carries two MH-60R helicopters
that can be equipped for search and rescue.
The Seventh Fleet PAO says a P-3C Orion aircraft also will
depart shortly from Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, bringing long-range
search, radar and communications capabilities to the efforts.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to all of those affected by
this tragic event,” PAO officials said in the statement, which also requested
that all questions about the event be directed to the Navy Office of
Information, or CHINFO, duty officer.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment