Malaysia Airlines Flight 370(MH370/MAS370[a]), also marketed asChina Southern AirlinesFlight 748 (CZ748) through acodeshare, was a scheduledinternational passenger flightfromKuala Lumpur International AirporttoBeijing Capital International Airport(a distance of 4,399 kilometres (2,733mi)). On 8 March 2014, the aircraft flying the route, aBoeing 777-200ER, went missing less than an hour after takeoff. Operated byMalaysia Airlines(MAS), the aircraft carried 12 crew members (all Malaysian nationals) and 227 passengers from 14 nations.A jointsearch and rescueeffort, later reported as the largest in history,[2]was initiated in theGulf of Thailandand theSouth China Sea.[3][4]The search area was later extended to include theStrait of Malacca,Andaman Sea, and the Indian Ocean.[5][6][7]On 15 March, investigators believed that the aircraft had first headed west back across theMalay Peninsula, then continued on a northern or southern track for approximately seven hours.[8]Two satellite images taken on 16 and 18 March showed potential aircraft debris in the southern Indian Ocean southwest of Western Australia,[9][10][11]prompting increased search activity in the area.[12][13]Since 22 March, there have been almost daily sightings ofmarine debrisin the search area made by various countries' satellites.[9][10][11][14]However, none of the photographed objects has been confirmed as belonging to the missing aircraft.[15]Revised estimates of the flight's remaining fuel for its untracked route after losing radar contact, caused on 28 March a move of the search area to 1,100 kilometres (680mi) north-east of the previous search area.[15]On 24 March, the Malaysian government confirmed analyses by the BritishAir Accidents Investigation Branch(AAIB) andInmarsatand concluded "beyond any reasonable doubt" that the aircraft had gone down in the southern Indian Ocean with no survivors.[16][17][18]On 29 March 2014, the Government of Malaysia and the AAIB stated that, in accordance with the protocols detailed inInternational Civil Aviation Organization(ICAO) Annex 13 concerningaircraft accident investigation, an international team will investigate the loss of the flight.[1Disappearance[edit]The flight departed fromKuala Lumpur International Airporton 8 March 2014 at 00:41local time(16:41UTC, 7 March) and was scheduled to land atBeijing Capital International Airportat 06:30local time(22:30 UTC, 7 March). It climbed to its assignedcruisealtitude of 35,000 feet (11,000m) and was travelling at 471 knots (872km/h; 542mph)true airspeed[citation needed]when it ceased all communications and thetranspondersignal was lost. The aircraft's last known position on 8 March at 01:21 local time (17:21 UTC, 7 March) was65515N1033443E, corresponding to the navigationalwaypointIGARI in theGulf of Thailand, at which the aircraft was due to alter its course slightly eastward.[21]Military tracking shows that the aircraft descended as low as 12,000 feet (3,700m) after taking a sharp turn toward the Strait of Malacca. The sharp turn seemed to be intentional as normally it would have taken two minutes for the aircraft to make such a turn, and during that time there was no emergency call.[22]The crew was expected to contact air traffic control inHo Chi Minh Cityas the aircraft passed into Vietnamese airspace just north of the point where contact was lost.[23][24]The captain of another aircraft attempted to reach the crew of Flight 370 "just after 1:30 a.m." to relay Vietnamese Air Traffic Control's request for the crew to contact it; the captain said he was able to establish contact, and just heard "mumbling" and static.[25]Malaysia Airlines (MAS) issued a media statement at 07:24, one hour after the scheduled arrival of the flight at Beijing, stating that contact with the flight had been lost by Malaysian ATC at 02:40. MAS stated that the government had initiatedsearch and rescueoperations.[26]It later emerged that Subang Air Traffic Control had lost contact with the aircraft at 01:22 and notified Malaysia Airlines at 02:40. Neither the crew nor the aircraft's onboard communication systems relayed adistress signal, indications of bad weather, or technical problems before the aircraft vanished from radar screens.[27][28]The last words that Malaysian air traffic controllers heard were originally reported to be those of the co-pilot saying, "All right, good night".[29]On 31 MarchHishamuddin Hussein, the actingTransport Minister of Malaysia, wrote on Twitter that the words that were actually heard were "Good night, Malaysian three seven zero", but could not confirm whose voice it was.[30]