False News/Crashed near Tho Chu Island
False News: Flight MH370 crashed into the sea near Tho Chu island.
When Malaysia Airlines announced that contact with flight MH370 had been lost, the wording selected was precise and accurate, as that was the only verifiable information available.
The search for MH370 began in the South China Sea beginning with the last known location of MH370.
An announcement that the aircraft had crashed was premature and based on an assumption - that the loss of contact indicated a crash had occurred.
Vietnam confirms MAS flight crashed into sea off Tho Chu island
Published: 8 March 2014
MAS flight MH370 which went missing early this morning disappeared in Vietnamese airspace, the Vietnamese government has confirmed.
The plane lost contact in Ca Mau province airspace before it had entered contact with Ho Chi Minh City air traffic control," a statement posted on the official Vietnamese government website said.
The plane was meant to transfer to Ho Chi Minh City air traffic control at 1.22am Malaysian time but never appeared, the statement reported by AFP said, citing a senior Ministry of Defence official.
The Ministry of Defence launched rescue efforts to find the plane, working in coordination with Malaysian and Chinese officials.
The Vietnamese navy had earlier confirmed that Kuala Lumpur-Beijing bound Flight MH370 had crashed into the sea off Tho Chu island.
Tuoi Tre quoted Navy Admiral Ngo Van Phat, Commander of Region 5, as saying that military radar reported that the plane crashed into the sea at a location 246km south of Phu Quoc island.
...
Source: The Malaysian Insider TMIMY-001
Tho Chu Island (marked)
Source: Google Maps
The following news extract uses the words crashed or crash five times:-
Malaysia Airlines plane crashes in South China Sea with 239 people aboard
By Reuters
March 8, 20145:25 PM GMT+8
A Malaysia Airlines flight carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew crashed in the South China Sea on Saturday, 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 U.S.-built airliner's deadliest crash since entering service 19 years ago.
Malaysia Airlines had yet to confirm that the aircraft had crashed. It said earlier in the day that no distress signal had been given and cited early speculation that the plane may have landed in Nanming in southern China.
Flight MH370, operating a Boeing 777-200ER aircraft, last had contact with air traffic controllers 120 nautical miles off the east coast of the Malaysian town of Kota Bharu, Malaysia Airlines chief executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said in a statement read to a news conference in Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysia and Vietnam were conducting a joint search and rescue, he said but gave no details. China has also sent two maritime rescue ships to the South China Sea to help in any rescue, state television said on one of its microblogs.
"We are extremely worried," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters in Beijing before the Vietnamese report that the plane had crashed. "The news is very disturbing. We hope everyone on the plane is safe."
. . .
Source: Malaysia Airlines plane crashes in South China Sea with 239 people aboard Reuters TRCUS-001
Note: Admiral Ngo Van Phat was also quoted in media after large oil slicks were detected off the coast of Vietnam. One related article included the statement:-
"The admiral denied earlier reports in Vietnamese state media quoting him as saying the plane had actually crashed."
ANAUE-001