Support and sympathy

The Metropark Lido Hotel near Beijing's International Airport became the focus of world attention recently as family and friends of the missing MH 370 gathered to wait for the latest news. Ma Xue finds out the enormous effort and logistics hotel staff invested at such a difficult time.

The days stretched to weeks, and emotions ran high. The relatives and friends of the missing plane housed at the Metropark Lido Hotel were fraught with distress, frustrated by the lack of news and tempers were frayed.

Yet the staff of the hotel had to make sure they were all adequately served and fed, even though food may be the last thing they were thinking of.

Everyone at the hotel was putting in overtime and going the extra mile to show their support and sympathy. Some were strained to the limits.

Cao Xuan, 21, collapsed at work.

"It wasn't a big deal. I caught a quick rest for three hours and came right back again," the young lady says, with a shrug. She works at the cafe of the Metropark Lido.

On March 8, Cao started her shift at 6:30 am and was one of the first staffers to be informed that there would be a big crowd coming in for lunch. She soon learned about the missing Malaysian Airlines flight, which was supposed to have landed in Beijing about the time she started work.

Cao put two and two together and realized she would not be going home at the usual time.

She worked 17 hours straight that day and was all geared up to pull it off again the next day, until she collapsed.

When asked if her parents knew about the incident, Cao simply smiled.

"They did," she says but glossed over the details of how worried they actually were. "Now that I'm working extra hours helping these people instead of being at home with my family, my parents say they only hope to catch sight of me on the news one day." Cao says.

Among the 239 people on Flight MH370, there were 14 different nationalities represented among the passengers traveling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. About half, or 153, are Chinese citizens.

At the moment, more than 250 relatives of the Chinese passengers are staying at the Metropark Lido hotel waiting for news, after a group of 25 left for Malaysia on March 14.