Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 According to Wikipedia

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Australia	6
Canada	2
China	152
France	4
Hong Kong[d]	1
India	5
Indonesia	7
Iran[e]	2
Malaysia[f]	50
Netherlands	1
New Zealand	2
Russia	1
Taiwan	1
Ukraine	2
United States	3
Total	239

Malaysia Airlines released the names and nationalities of the 227 passengers and 12 crew members, based on the flight manifest.[174]
Passengers[edit]

Two-thirds of the 227 passengers were Chinese citizens, including a group of 19 artists with six family members and four staff returning from a calligraphy exhibition of their work in Kuala Lumpur; 38 passengers were Malaysian. The remaining passengers were from 13 different countries.[175] Of the total, 20 were employees of Freescale Semiconductor, a company based in Austin, Texas – 12 were from Malaysia and 8 from China.[176][177]

Under a 2007 agreement with Malaysia Airlines, Tzu Chi – a foreign Buddhist organisation – immediately sent specially-trained teams to Beijing and Malaysia to give emotional support to passengers' families.[178][179] The airline also sent its own team of caregivers and volunteers[180] and agreed to bear the expenses of bringing family members of the passengers to Kuala Lumpur and providing them with accommodation, medical care, and counselling.[181] Altogether, 115 family members of the Chinese passengers flew to Kuala Lumpur.[182] Some other family members chose to remain in China, fearing they would feel too isolated in Malaysia.[183] The airline offered an ex gratia condolence payment of US$5,000 to the family of each passenger,[184] but relatives considered the conditions unacceptable and asked the airline to review them.[185]

Crew

All the crew members were Malaysian citizens. The flight's captain was 53-year-old Zaharie Ahmad Shah of Penang; he joined MAS in 1981 and had 18,365 hours of flying experience.[186] Zaharie was also an examiner qualified to conduct simulator tests for pilots.[187]
The first officer was 27-year-old Fariq Abdul Hamid, an employee of MAS since 2007, with 2,763 flying hours.[188][189] Fariq was transitioning to the Boeing 777-200 after having completed his simulator training.[189]

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Timeline of response

7 March	Malaysia Airlines confirms it lost contact with Flight 370 at 18:40 UTC (02:40 MYT, 8 March), later corrected to 17:30 UTC (01:30 MYT)
8 March	An international search and rescue mission mobilised focusing on South China Sea
9 March	The search area expanded as the aircraft might have turned back west
Two Iranian passengers found to be travelling on stolen passports
10 March	Ten Chinese satellites now deployed in the search
Oil slicks on the surface of the South China Sea tested negative for jet fuel
Malaysia Airlines announces it will give $5,000 USD to the relatives of each passenger
11 March	Interpol say that two false identities not linked to the disappearance
12 March	Chinese satellite images of possible debris from Flight 370 in the South China Sea at 6.7°N 105.63°E released, but surface search finds no wreckage[190]
Malaysian government receives Inmarsat info that Flight 370 pinged for hours after ACARS went off-line
Chinese government criticises Malaysia for inadequate answers regarding Flight 370
13 March	US hints search should be expanded to the Indian Ocean
14 March	Investigation concludes that Flight 370 was still under the control of somebody after it lost contact with ground control
MAS retires the MH370/MH371 flight number pair[191]
15 March	Malaysia announces last satellite transmission from Flight 370 refocuses search along two loci – north and south
Malaysian police search the homes of both of the aircraft's pilots
16 March	The number of countries involved in the search and rescue operation reaches 25
17 March	Australia leads search from Sumatra to the southern Indian Ocean
18 March	China starts a search operation in a northern region of its own territory
19 March	Experts attempt to restore logfiles deleted from the flight simulator in the captain's home
20 March	Aircraft and ships dispatched to locate two objects seen by satellite in the southern Indian Ocean at 44°03′02″S 91°13′27″E; twenty-six nations are involved in search
21 March	Search focuses on an area 3,000 kilometres (1,900 mi) southwest of Perth, Western Australia
22 March	Chinese satellite image shows a possible object measuring 22.5 by 13 metres (74 by 43 ft) at 44°57′30″S 90°13′40″E, approximately 3,170 kilometres (1,970 mi) west of Perth and just 120 kilometres (75 mi) from the earlier sighting but did not confirm the object nature
24 March	Australian search aircraft spots two objects at sea 1,550 miles (2,490 km) southwest of Perth, one of them a large orange rectangular object[192]
Prime Minister of Malaysia announces that Flight 370 crashed in the southern Indian Ocean, and Malaysia Airlines states to families that it assumes "beyond reasonable doubt" there are no survivors[193]
25 March	Search area narrowed to the southern tip of the southern search corridor; searches in the northern search corridor, and northern half of southern search area called off following detailed re-analysis of satellite data; aerial search suspended due to weather conditions in the Southern Indian Ocean

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On 8 March, Boeing announced that it was assembling a team of experts to provide technical assistance to investigators,^[194] in accordance with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) protocols. In addition, the United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced in a press release on the same day that a team of investigators had been sent along with technical advisers from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to offer assistance in the investigation.^[156] Because a formal (ICAO-sanctioned) investigation had not yet started, co-operation and co-ordination between involved parties could suffer, there being "a risk that crucial early detective work could be hampered, and potential clues and records lost", according to experts.^[195]

On 11 March,^[103] Chinese authorities^[104] activated the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters, a 15 member organisation consisting of international space agencies^[196] whose purpose is to "...provide a unified system of space data acquisition and delivery to those affected by natural or man-made disasters through Authorized Users."^[105]

The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had already deployed technical experts and agents to investigate the disappearance.^[197] A senior US law enforcement official clarified that FBI agents had not been sent to Malaysia.^[198] By 17 March the investigation was also being assisted by Interpol and other relevant international law enforcement authorities according to the Malaysian government.^[199][200] United States and Malaysian officials were reviewing every passenger named on the manifest in addition to the two passengers who were confirmed as possessing stolen passports.^[201] On 18 March the Chinese government announced that it had checked all of the Chinese citizens on the aircraft and ruled out the possibility that any were potential hijackers.^[202]

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Two men identified on the manifest, an Austrian and an Italian, had reported their passports stolen in 2012 and 2013, respectively.^[24][203] Interpol stated that both passports were listed on its database of lost and stolen passports, and that no check had been made against its database.^[204][205] Malaysia's Home Minister, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, criticised his country's immigration officials for failing to stop the passengers travelling on the stolen European passports.^[205]

The two one-way tickets purchased for the holders of the stolen passports were booked through China Southern Airlines.^[206] It was reported that an Iranian had ordered the cheapest tickets to Europe via telephone in Bangkok, Thailand. The tickets were paid for in cash.^[207][208] The two passengers were later identified as Iranian men, one aged 19 and the other 29, who had entered Malaysia on 28 February using valid Iranian passports. The head of Interpol said the organisation was "inclined to conclude that it was not a terrorist incident".^[173] The two men were believed to be asylum seekers.^[209][210]

China Daily reported that there was also a passenger on the boarding list provided by Malaysia Airlines whose name did not match the passport owner's name and passport number.^[211]
Upon the realisation that the aircraft may have been hijacked by a skilled individual, suspicion also fell briefly on a passenger who worked as flight engineer for a Swiss jet charter company.^[212]


Pilots

Police searched the homes of the pilot and co-pilot.^[213] CNN reported that police investigated a flight simulator in the pilot's home and that US Intelligence officials were leaning towards the view that those in the cockpit had been responsible for the aircraft's disappearance.^[214]


Cargo

On 17 March, Malaysia Airlines chief executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said, without disclosing the flight manifest, that the aircraft was carrying 3 to 4 tonnes of mangosteens, and that nothing it transported was dangerous.^{[215][216][217]} Three days later, he also confirmed that potentially flammable batteries, identified as lithium-ion,^[218] were on board, adding that all cargo was "packed as recommended by the ICAO", checked several times and deemed to meet the regulations.^{[219][220][221]}

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Public communication from Malaysian officials regarding the loss of the flight was initially beset with confusion.

• Malaysia Airlines' chief executive, Ahmad Jauhari Yahya initially said air traffic control was in contact with the aircraft two hours into the flight when in fact last contact with air traffic control was less than an hour after takeoff.^[222]
• Malaysian authorities initially reported that four passengers used stolen passports to board the aircraft before settling on two – one Italian and one Austrian.^[223]
• Malaysia abruptly widened the search area to the west on 9 March, and only later explained that military radar had detected the aircraft turning back.^[223] This was later formally denied by Rodzali Daud.^[55]
• Malaysian authorities visited the homes of pilot Zaharie and co-pilot Fariq on 15 March, during which they took away a flight simulator belonging to Zaharie. Malaysian police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said this was the first police visit to those homes. On 17 March, the government contradicted this by saying police first visited the pilots' homes the day following the flight's disappearance,^[224] although this had been previously denied.^[225]
• On 16 March, Malaysia's acting transport minister contradicted the prime minister's account on the timing of the final data and communications received. Najib Razak said that the ACARS system was switched off at 01:07, while Hishammuddin said that the last ACARS transmission was received at 01:07, and the transmission expected at 01:37 was missed.^[226]
• Three days after saying that the aircraft was not transporting anything hazardous, Malaysia Airlines' chief executive Ahmad said that potentially dangerous lithium batteries were on board.^[216][218]

The New York Times noted that the Malaysian government and the airline released imprecise, incomplete, and sometimes inaccurate information, with civilian officials sometimes contradicting military leaders.^[227] Malaysian officials were also criticised after the persistent release of contradictory information, most notably regarding the last point and time of contact with the aircraft.^[228]

Vietnam temporarily scaled back its search operations after the country's Deputy Transport Minister cited a lack of communication from Malaysian officials despite requests for more information.^[229] China, through the official Xinhua News Agency, said that the Malaysian government ought to take charge and conduct the operation with greater transparency,^[158] a point echoed by the Chinese Foreign Ministry days later: "Help all sides in the search to make their search more effective and accurately targeted."^[230] Questions and criticisms were raised by air force experts and the Malaysian opposition about the current state of Malaysia's air force and radar capabilities.^{[231][232][233]} The Washington Post said that had MAS installed system upgrade calledSwift that had helped locate Air France 447, investigators would have had critical information about the aircraft even after the ACARS system and the transponder had gone dead.^[234]

Criticism was also levelled at the delay of the search efforts. A report in The Wall Street Journal suggested that British satellite company Inmarsat had provided officials with data on 11 March, three days after the aircraft disappeared, suggesting the aircraft was nowhere near the areas in the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea being searched at that time; and may have diverted its course through a southern or northern corridor, information only publicly acknowledged and released by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak on 15 March in a press conference.^[235]Responding to criticisms that information about satellite signals had not been made available earlier, Malaysia Airlines said that it was critical that the raw satellite signals were verified and analysed "so that their significance could be properly understood". While this was being done, the airline was unable to publicly confirm their existence.^[236]

MAS was criticised for not disclosing its cargo manifest^[215] and the Malaysian government reportedly refused requests to hand over the detailed manifest. Countries and search agencies committed to the maritime search and recovery process expressed concern at this. For example, AMSA suggested it was hampering efforts in the Indian Ocean search.^[237]

On 14 March, Malaysia Airlines retired the MH370/MH371 flight number pair for the Kuala Lumpur–Beijing–Kuala Lumpur route, replacing them with MH318 and MH319 respectively.^[191]

On 25 March, China's president said he was sending a special envoy to Kuala Lumpur to consult with the Malaysian government over the missing aircraft.^[238] The same day, following the announcement of the deaths of all those on board, around two hundred family members of Chinese passengers presumed killed in the crash protested outside the Malaysian embassy.^[239]