An extensive international land and sea search is underway for missing Malaysian jetliner Flight MH370, which seemingly vanished out of thin air on Saturday, March 8.

Here we break down the events that transpired since Flight MH370 was last seen leaving Kuala Lumpur and failed to reach its destination in Beijing, China.

At 0041 local Malaysian time, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 departed from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport and was due to land in Beijing at 0630 on that same day. The plane, a Boeing 777-200ER, is carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members, according to Business Insider.

At 0119, someone in the cockpit said "All right, good night" to the Malaysian air traffic controllers, which are the last words heard from the flight. The plane's ACARS transmission system was then deactivated.

The plane dropped off air traffic control screens at 0121, and failed to check in as scheduled at 0121 with air traffic control in Ho Chi Minh City. Malaysian authorities believe that someone on board shut off the plane's communication systems.

At 0215, Malaysian military radar plotted Flight MH370 at a point south of Phuket island in the Strait of Malacca, west of its last known location.

The last signal from the plane was received at 0811, according to satellite tracking data.

The plane is now believed to be in either the northern arc between northern Thailand to Kazakhstan, or a southern one stretching from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean. Investigators are almost certain that someone with knowledge of the Boeing 777 and commercial navigation purposely diverted the jet.

Chinese and Western security sources have done extensive background checks of everyone aboard the plane, and have not found anyone with a known political or criminal motive to crash the plane.

A motive of suicide by the pilot or co-pilot is another possibility being investigated.

Hishammuddin Hussein, the Acting Transport Minister in Malaysia, said the "unique, unprecedented" search covers an area the size of Australia. "This is an enormous search area. And it is something that Malaysia cannot possibly search on its own. I am therefore very pleased that so many countries have come forward to offer assistance and support to the search and rescue operation," Hishamuddin said.

Australia is leading the search in the deep waters of the Indian Ocean, and is receiving help from the United States.

Meanwhile, the family members of the missing passengers aboard the flight are outraged at Malaysia Air, claiming they are not receiving enough information.