MH370 could have crashed near Vietnam, Malaysia border: admiral

A search and rescue mission by Vietnamese authorities had reportedly found two oil spills, believed to be from the ill-fated Boeing 777-200 plane belonging to Malaysia Airline (MAS) which went missing early Saturday morning, its local daily reported.

The Tuoi Tre newspaper said the oil spill which was found by a Vietnamese military AN26 airplane was 20km long and 500m apart.

The spill was also located 150km from Tho Chu Island, south of Vietnam.

The AN26 plane had also found smoke coming up from the sea surface at 7.25 north, 103.2320 east.

Earlier the newspaper reported that the MH370 flight which was en route to Beijing had crashed in the South China Sea, in Malaysian territorial waters.

Rear Admiral Ngo Van Phat had been quoted as saying that the ill-fated plane crashed 300km from Vietnam’s Tho Chu Island. The island is located 102km southwest of the famous resort island of Phu Quoc, near the Malaysia – Vietnam border.

Flight MH370 was carrying 12 crew members and 227 passengers from 14 different nationalities.

The plane lost contact with the Subang Air Traffic Control at 2.40am, Saturday.

It was reported missing after its radar failed to be detected by Vietnam air traffic control. The Vietnamese then informed the Subang air traffic control.

Meanwhile, Vietnam has expressed its readiness to mobilise search and rescue mission if there is a request from the Malaysian government.

“The plane was lost in Malaysian waters. As such, Vietnam can’t deploy our rescue teams without a formal request from Malaysia,’ Major General Pham Hoai Giang, director of the Department Search and Rescue at the Defence Ministry told Tuoi Tre Vietnam.