Date: Mar 8th 2014 3:19p.m.

Contributed by:
cityweekend

Beijing woke to tragic news on Saturday morning. Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Beijing lost contact with air traffic control two hours into its journey and is now thought to have crashed.

The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER took off from Kuala Lumpur at 12:41am local time and lost contact at 02:40am. The flight was scheduled to arrive at Beijing International Airport at 06:30am. 

A total of 239 people were on board. Of the passengers, there were 153 Chinese, 38 Malaysians, 12 Indonesians, seven Australians, as well as a number from France, America, New Zealand, Canada and Ukraine.

Confusion remains as to the fate of the plane. Although wreckage has yet to be found, according to Vietnamese state media, the Vietnamese Navy had confirmed that the plane crashed 153 nautical miles off Vietnam’s coast. This report now has now been played down by a Vietnamese Navy commander who has said that the location mentioned was where contact was last made with the plane and not necessarily where it crashed. 

Below is the latest press release from Malaysia Airlines that includes helplines for those affected by the crash.

We will update this article as confirmed reports come in. 

Photo courtesy of AFP/Getty Images