Fruit, lithium batteries in cargo of MH370, investigation report says

The missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 was carrying 4.566 tons of mangosteens and 200 pieces of lithium ion batteries weighing about 2.453 tons, according to the preliminary investigation report. [Special coverage]

The plane's full cargo manifest was released by the Ministry of Transportation Thursday night as part of the preliminary probe into the plane that went missing on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in the early hours of March 8.

The batteries in the cargo hold of the missing flight MH370 were non-hazardous, and its transportation complies with standards set by international aviation authorities, Malaysia Airlines chief executive officer Ahmad Jauhari Yahaya told reporters.

For the batteries, the cargo manifest came with an instruction that it should be handled with care and that flammability hazards exist.

The manifest revealed that the batteries were from NNR Global Logistics (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Penang. "The package was meant for NNR Global Logistics (Beijing) Co Ltd but a company named JHJ International Transportation Co Ltd, Beijing Branch, was to collect the cargo on its behalf."

On the seating plan, 10 people were seated in the Business Class section of the flight, according to the preliminary report drafted by the international investigation team.

Among them were three Chinese nationals, three Malaysians, two Canadians, a New Zealander and a Russian. The rest of the 217 passengers were seated in Economy Class.