Vietnamese air force planes find oil slicks as search for missing jet continues

AP Photo/Lai Seng Sin

Vietnamese air force planes find oil slicks as search for missing jet continues
(Image credit: AP Photo/Lai Seng Sin)

The search continues for a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 that disappeared off radar screens less than an hour after it took off from Kuala Lumpur on Saturday morning.

Bound for Beijing, the plane has 227 passengers and 12 crew members aboard. Malaysia Airlines said the pilot, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, has flown more than 18,000 hours for the airline since 1981. Neither he nor the first officer sent a distress signal, suggesting any problems occurred very quickly and perhaps did not leave time to make such a call.

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Sarah Eberspacher

Sarah Eberspacher is an associate editor at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked as a sports reporter at The Livingston County Daily Press & Argus and The Arizona Republic. She graduated from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.