Malaysia Airlines plane crashes in South China Sea

A Malaysia Airlines flight carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew has crashed in the South China Sea, Vietnamese state media said, quoting a senior naval official.

The Boeing 777-200ER flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing had been missing for hours when Vietnam's Tuoi Tre news quoted Admiral Ngo Van Phat as saying he had asked boats from an island off south Vietnam to rush to the crash site.

If the report is confirmed, it would mark the US-built airliner's deadliest crash since entering service 19 years ago, the Reuters news agency reported. Malaysia Airlines had yet to confirm that the aircraft had crashed.

It said earlier on Saturday that no distress signal had been given and cited early speculation that the plane may have landed in Nanming in southern China.

Malaysia's flag carrier said flight MH370 disappeared at 2.40am local time on Saturday (1840 GMT Friday), about two hours after leaving Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

It had been due to arrive in Beijing at 6.30am local time on Saturday (2230 GMT Friday).

The flight was carrying 152 Chinese, 38 Malaysians, 12 Indonesians and seven Australians among the 227 passengers, the airline said on Saturday.

There were also three US citizens, three from France, two passengers each from New Zealand, Ukraine, and Canada, and one each from Italy, Taiwan, the Netherlands and Austria, the airline said in a statement. There were also two infants and twelve crew members on the flight.

"We deeply regret that we have lost all contacts with flight MH370 which departed Kuala Lumpur at 12.41 am earlier this morning bound for Beijing," Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, Malaysia Airlines group chief executive officer, said in a statement.

The statement said the carrier was working with authorities, who had launched an effort to locate the aircraft.

The airline's Kuala Lumpur-Beijing route passes roughly over the Indochinese peninsula.